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Distributions of kinetic pathways in strain relaxation of heteroepitaxial films

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Abstract

The kinetic relaxation pathways for strained heteroepitaxial films are mapped using a process simulator that integrates experimental and model descriptions of the energetic and kinetic parameters that define the nucleation, propagation, and interaction of strain relieving dislocations. This paper focuses on GexSi1−x/Si(100), but the methodologies described should be extendible to other systems. The kinetic pathways for strain evolution are plotted for film growth as functions of the primary kinetic parameters: growth temperature, growth rate, and initial lattice mismatch, generating relaxation surfaces for parameter pairs. Sensitivity analyses are presented of how deviations from mean parameters disperse the resultant relaxation surfaces. Finally, multi-parameter “fingerprinting” of the dislocation array is shown to illustrate how fundamental kinetic mechanisms—particularly dislocation nucleation mechanisms—define the final dislocation array. The overarching goal is to establish a robust framework for predicting, interrogating, and optimizing strain relaxation pathways and underlying mechanisms, for misfit dislocations in strained heteroepitaxial films.

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Notes

  1. We note that this asymptotic approach to zero is correct for systems with symmetric strain relaxation mechanisms (i.e., equivalent relaxation rates for orthogonal in-plane directions), as applies for GexSi1−x/Si(100), but not for systems with asymmetric strain relaxation mechanisms as described for the GexSi1−x/Si(110) system in Ref. 2.

  2. http://www.predictdislocationsin3n.com.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We wish to acknowledge the pioneering and lasting contributions of Jan Van der Merwe who was so instrumental in providing the foundations for the field of strained layer epitaxy, which has provided such scientific richness for so many of us over the decades and which has had enormous and pervasive technological impact in industries from microelectronics to information transmission systems and many others.

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. DMR-9531696 (construction of original simulator) and DMR-1309535 (further simulator development and parametric, sensitivity, and fingerprinting analysis).

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  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, & Center for Materials, Devices and Integrated Systems, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, 12180, USA

    Dustin Andersen & Robert Hull

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Correspondence to Dustin Andersen.

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Andersen, D., Hull, R. Distributions of kinetic pathways in strain relaxation of heteroepitaxial films. Journal of Materials Research 32, 3977–3991 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2017.374

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