Self-assembly of quantum dots: Effect of neighbor islands on the wetting in coherent Stranski-Krastanov growth

The wetting of the homogeneously strained wetting layer by dislocation-free three-dimensional islands belonging to an array has been studied. The array has been simulated as a chain of islands in $1+1$ dimensions. It is found that the wetting depends on the density of the array, the size distribution, and the shape of the neighbor islands. Implications for the self-assembly of quantum dots grown in the coherent Stranski-Krastanov mode are discussed.