Formation and stability of self-assembled coherent islands in highly mismatched heteroepitaxy

Abstract

We study the energetics of island formation in Stranski-Krastanow growth within a parameter-free approach. It is shown that an optimum island size exists for a given coverage and island density if changes in the wetting layer morphology after the 3D transition are properly taken into account. Our approach reproduces well the experimental island size dependence on coverage, and indicates that the critical layer thickness depends on growth conditions. The present study provides a new explanation for the (frequently found) rather narrow size distribution of self-assembled coherent islands.

4 pages, 5 figures, In print, Phys. Rev. Lett. Other related publications can be found at http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.html

References in corpus (3)

• Density-functional theory calculations for poly-atomic systems: Electronic structure, static and elastic properties and ab initio molecular dynamics
• Dislocation Free Island Formation in Heteroepitaxial Growth: An Equilibrium Study
• The influence of surface stress on the equilibrium shape of strained quantum dots

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• Equilibrium shapes and energies of coherent strained InP islands
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• Stable unidimensional arrays of coherent strained islands
• Equilibrium Shape and Size of Supported Heteroepitaxial Nanoislands
• Stability of strained heteroepitaxial systems in (1+1) dimensions
• Some thermodynamic aspects of self-assembly of arrays of quantum dots
• Two Approaches to Dislocation Nucleation in the Supported Heteroepitaxial Equilibrium Islanding Phenomenon