Mechanisms of edge-dislocation formation in strained films of zinc blende and diamond cubic semiconductors epitaxially grown on (001)-oriented substrates

Ninety degree edge misfit dislocations (MDs) are sessile dislocations; such dislocations, however, were found in large amounts in relaxed films. The commonly accepted formation mechanism of such dislocations is an interaction of two complementary 60 degrees dislocations with appropriate Burger's vectors, for example: a/2[10 (1) over bar] vertical bar a/2 [011] = a/2 [110]. In the present study, four possible types of interaction were analyzed: (i) random meeting of two complementary MDs; (ii) crossing of two complementary 60 degrees MDs in the vicinity of film- substrate interface in systems grown on substrates misoriented from exact (001) orientation; (iii) formation of edge MDs during cross-slipping of a secondary MD; and (iv) induced nucleation of a secondary complementary 60 degrees MD. Examples of discussed interactions are given. Contrary to the widespread opinion that edge MDs in GeSi and InGaAs films grown by MBE on Si and GaAs substrates predominantly form under elastic strains greater than 2% and at the final stage of plastic relaxation, in the present study, we show that such dislocations may also form at an early stage of plastic relaxation in films with less-than-1% lattice misfit with substrate. A necessary condition for that is a sufficient amount of 60 degrees dislocations available in the system by the moment the strained film starts growing. Dislocations (60 degrees) can be introduced into the system using a preliminarily grown, partially or fully relaxed buffer layer. This layer serves as a source of threading dislocations for the next growing layer that favor the formation of paired complementary MDs and their reagents, edge MDs, at the interface with growing film. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3597903]