Two-dimensional periodic positioning of self-assembled Ge islands on prepatterned Si (001) substrates

Two-dimensional (2D) periodic arrays of Ge islands were realized on prepatterned Si (001) substrates by solid-source molecular-beam epitaxy. Atomic-force microscopy images demonstrate that the Ge islands are formed in the 2D laterally ordered pits of patterned substrates. The 2D periodicity of the substrate pattern is replicated throughout a stack of Ge island layers by strain-driven vertical ordering. Photoluminescence spectra of the ordered Ge islands show well-resolved peaks of the no-phonon signal and the transverse-optical phonon replica. These peaks are observed at nearly the same energy as those of random Ge islands deposited under the same conditions on unpatterned Si substrates. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.