Molecular dynamics study of stress relaxation during Ge deposition on Si(100) 2×1 substrates

Abstract

We studied epitaxial growth of Ge films on Si(001) 2×1 at different temperatures using classical molecular dynamics simulations. Ge-Si intermixing contributes to strain accommodation mostly in the original Si substrate surface and first grown Ge layer. Stress accumulation is further released by the generation of dislocations whose amount and type depend on temperature. At high temperatures, a larger amount and more variety of dislocations are formed, thus affecting the surface morphology and consequently the size of 3D islands.