Stranski-Krastanow growth of tensile strained Si islands on Ge (001)

Abstract

Stranski-Krastanow island growth is demonstrated for tensile strained silicon epilayers on Ge (001) substrates over a wide range of growth temperatures. Small, Si-rich islands show sidewall faces near {1,1,10}, whereas larger islands are {113}-terminated truncated pyramids with an aspect ratio near 0.1. In contrast to compressively strained Ge on Si, we find for Si on Ge a significantly thicker wetting layer of >8 ML and coexistence of islands and dislocations.