Kinetic and strain-driven growth phenomena on Si(001)

Abstract

Self-organization phenomena in semiconductors are usually based on strain-driven island growth during hetero epitaxial layer deposition. However, kinetic phenomena can become important and even dominating at the low growth temperatures usually employed during molecular beam epitaxy. We report on kinetic step bunching on Si(001), and identify the driving mechanism on the atomic scale via kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. Another phenomena discussed is facet formation during annealing of SiO2-covered Si(001) nanostructures at the relatively low temperatures usually employed for oxide desorption. Both phenomena are combined to facilitate perfect ordering of self-assembled Ge dots on facetted Si(001) nanostructure templates. © 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.