Facet Growth under Stress: The Limits of Strained-Layer Stability

J. Tersoff
Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 156101 – Published 19 September 2001
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Abstract

A crystal facet is metastable under stress, but the process of growth or sublimation roughens the facet and is expected to render it unstable. This poses a fundamental limit for heteroepitaxial growth of planar layers, e.g., in semiconductor devices. An analysis shows that this facet-growth instability can be suppressed to an arbitrary degree by growing slowly. Moreover, the local stress (“force dipole”) inherent in atomic steps introduces a new, purely kinetic effect that dominates at low strain and can render planar growth dynamically stable.

  • Received 16 May 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.156101

©2001 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

J. Tersoff

  • IBM Research Division, T. J. Watson Research Center, P.O. Box 218, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598

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Issue

Vol. 87, Iss. 15 — 8 October 2001

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