Self-organized growth of alloy superlattices

Venezuela, P.; Tersoff, J.; Floro, Jerrold A.; Chason, E.; Follstaedt, D. M.; Liu, Feng; Lagally, M. G.

doi:10.1038/17767

Cited by 81 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…During the evolution the surface self-organizes into a pattern with a characteristic length scale, which coarsens in time. The phenomenon of considerable interest for applications [2] as well as from the fundamental point of view of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kinetics of step bunching during growth: A minimal model

2005

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We study a minimal stochastic model of step bunching during growth on a one-dimensional vicinal surface. The formation of bunches is controlled by the preferential attachment of atoms to descending steps (inverse Ehrlich-Schwoebel effect) and the ratio d of the attachment rate to the terrace diffusion coefficient. For generic parameters (d > 0) the model exhibits a very slow crossover to a nontrivial asymptotic coarsening exponent β ≃ 0.38. In the limit of infinitely fast terrace diffusion (d = 0) linear coarsening (β = 1) is observed instead. The different coarsening behaviors are related to the fact that bunches attain a finite speed in the limit of large size when d = 0, whereas the speed vanishes with increasing size when d > 0. For d = 0 an analytic description of the speed and profile of stationary bunches is developed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kinetics of step bunching during growth: A minimal model

2005

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“…The effect of such steps on the growth process, the morphology, the stress and strain distributions, and the functionality of the materials has been extensively investigated. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] In particular, these steps are thought to constitute a heterogeneous source of nucleation for the formation of nano-objects and structural defects at the initial stages of the growth of many semiconductor nanostructures. 12,13 It is critically important to identify the nucleation sources for individual nano-objects such as quantum dots and wires because they constitute the fundamental blocks of future nanoelectronics and nanophotonics devices.…”

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confidence: 99%

Direct imaging of quantum wires nucleated at diatomic steps

Molina

Varela

Sales

et al. 2007

Applied Physics Letters

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Atomic steps at growth surfaces are important heterogeneous sources for nucleation of epitaxial nano-objects. In the presence of misfit strain, we show that the nucleation process takes place preferentially at the upper terrace of the step as a result of the local stress relaxation. Evidence for strain-induced nucleation comes from the direct observation by postgrowth, atomic resolution, Z-contrast imaging of an InAs-rich region in a nanowire located on the upper terrace surface of an interfacial diatomic step. © 2007 American Institute of Physics. ͓DOI: 10.1063/1.2790483͔Atomic steps located at the surfaces of substrates play a central role in controlling the growth mechanism of a wide range of materials. The effect of such steps on the growth process, the morphology, the stress and strain distributions, and the functionality of the materials has been extensively investigated. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] In particular, these steps are thought to constitute a heterogeneous source of nucleation for the formation of nano-objects and structural defects at the initial stages of the growth of many semiconductor nanostructures. 12,13 It is critically important to identify the nucleation sources for individual nano-objects such as quantum dots and wires because they constitute the fundamental blocks of future nanoelectronics and nanophotonics devices. 14 The ability to control the nucleation of these nano-objects will contribute significantly to the development of reliable single-photon sources for applications in quantum information technology. [15][16][17] Nanowires constitute a special case of self-assembled nano-objects. 18 Self-assembled nano-objects can be formed spontaneously via the Stranski-Krastanov growth mode for certain semiconductor materials when a few monolayers are epitaxially deposited on a lattice-mismatched substrate. 19,20 Strain is widely accepted to be the driving force for the nucleation of these nano-objects, but as yet there has been no direct experimental evidence for the role of steps, and their associated stress enhancement, in the self-organized growth of nanowire arrays. 21,22 In this letter we show the direct imaging, by aberrationcorrected Z-contrast scanning transmission electron microscopy ͑STEM͒ and atomic force microscopy, that, in the presence of misfit strain, nanowires preferentially nucleate on the upper terrace of a diatomic step. With finite element elasticity calculations, we demonstrate that the driving force is the stress relaxation at the upper terrace of a diatomic step, which explains the observed nucleation site of semiconductor nanowires.The nanowires investigated consist of InAs͑P͒ selfassembled quantum wires grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy ͑MBE͒ on InP ͑001͒ substrates. The lattice mismatch between InAs and InP is 3.2%. The control of the relaxation process of these nanostructures has recently been followed with high precision by in situ accumulated stress measurements from the initial phases of the self-assembly process. 23 The process of format...

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“…5 In these films, periodic compositional modulations have been reported along the vertical direction of the substrates. Therefore, a semiconductor thin film with A x B 1-x composition undergoes phase separation into a stacked structure with A-excess and B-excess layers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetic-field-induced spontaneous superlattice formation via spinodal decomposition in epitaxial strontium titanate thin films

et al. 2016

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Periodically structured nanomaterials such as superlattices have a wide range of applications. Many electronic devices have been fabricated from these materials. The formation of spontaneous layer structures using epitaxial growth has also been reported for many compound semiconductors but for very few ceramics. We demonstrate that strontium titanate (Sr-Ti-O) thin films having an A-site excess composition in the perovskite structure deposited by pulsed laser deposition under a magnetic field show a spontaneously formed superlattice structure. The spontaneous superlattice formation mechanism has been proven to exhibit spinodal decomposition. Preparation of a part of the phase diagram for Sr-Ti-O thin films is reported for the first time. Although SrTiO 3 bulk is quantum paraelectric, previous reports have described that strained SrTiO 3 thin films show room-temperature ferroelectricity, especially along the in-plane direction. However, induced ferroelectricity along the out-of-plane direction has been reported in films with a limited thickness of less than 10 ml. The results show that the Sr-Ti-O thin films with spontaneously formed superlattice structures exhibit room-temperature ferroelectricity even when 300 nm thick. The induced ferroelectricity is brought about by the strain along the out-of-plane direction and is explained based on thermodynamic considerations.

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Self-organized growth of alloy superlattices

Cited by 81 publications

References 15 publications

Kinetics of step bunching during growth: A minimal model

Kinetics of step bunching during growth: A minimal model

Direct imaging of quantum wires nucleated at diatomic steps

Magnetic-field-induced spontaneous superlattice formation via spinodal decomposition in epitaxial strontium titanate thin films

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