Thermodynamic driving force of formation of coherent three-dimensional islands in Stranski-Krastanov growth

The formation of coherent three-dimensional (3D) islands in highly mismatched epitaxy is discussed in terms of the traditional concept of wetting. It is shown that the wetting layer and the 3D islands represent different phases which cannot be in equilibrium with each other. The transfer of matter from the stable wetting layer to the 3D islands is thermodynamically unfavored. The experimentally observed critical misfit for coherent 3D islanding to occur and the coexistence of pyramids with discrete heights of two, three, four,..., monolayers can be explained assuming that the thermodynamic driving force of formation of coherent 3D islands on the surface of the wetting layer of the same material is the reduced average adhesion of the islands to that layer and that the islands height is a discrete variable.