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Equilibrium shape and dislocation nucleation in strained epitaxial nanoislands

J. Jalkanen, O. Trushin, E. Granato, S. C. Ying, and T. Ala-Nissila
Phys. Rev. B 72, 081403(R) – Published 12 August 2005

Abstract

We study numerically the equilibrium shapes, shape transitions, and dislocation nucleation of small strained epitaxial islands with a two-dimensional atomistic model, using simple interatomic pair potentials. We first map out the phase diagram for the equilibrium island shapes as a function of island size (up to N=105 atoms) and lattice misfit with the substrate, and show that nanoscopic islands have four generic equilibrium shapes, in contrast with predictions from the continuum theory of elasticity. For increasing substrate-adsorbate attraction, we find islands that form on top of a finite wetting layer as observed in Stranski-Krastanow growth. We also investigate energy barriers and transition paths for transitions between different shapes of the islands and for dislocation nucleation in initially coherent islands. In particular, we find that dislocations nucleate spontaneously at the edges of the adsorbate-substrate interface above a critical size or lattice misfit.

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  • Received 22 June 2005
  • Corrected 22 August 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.72.081403

©2005 American Physical Society

Corrections

22 August 2005

Erratum

Publisher's Note: Equilibrium shape and dislocation nucleation in strained epitaxial nanoislands [Phys. Rev. B 72, 081403(R) (2005)]

J. Jalkanen, O. Trushin, E. Granato, S. C. Ying, and T. Ala-Nissila
Phys. Rev. B 72, 089903 (2005)

Authors & Affiliations

J. Jalkanen1, O. Trushin2, E. Granato3, S. C. Ying4, and T. Ala-Nissila1,4

  • 1Laboratory of Physics, P.O. Box 1100, Helsinki University of Technology, FIN–02015 HUT, Espoo, Finland
  • 2Institute of Microelectronics and Informatics, Academy of Sciences of Russia, Yaroslavl 150007, Russia
  • 3Laboratório Associado de Sensores e Materiais, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, 12245–970 São José dos Campos, SP Brasil
  • 4Department of Physics, P.O. Box 1843, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912–1843, USA

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Issue

Vol. 72, Iss. 8 — 15 August 2005

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