Effects of anisotropic surface drift diffusion on the strained heteroepitaxial nanoislands subjected to electromigration stressing

Abstract

A systematic study based on self-consistent dynamical simulations is presented for the morphological evolutionary behavior of an isolated thin Ge/Si nanoisland (quantum dot) on a rigid substrate exposed to electromigration forces. This morphological evolution is basically induced by the anisotropic surface drift diffusion, driven by the capillary forces, the lattice mismatch stresses, and the wetting potential. In this study, we have mainly focused on the size and shape development kinetics of quantum dots, known as the “Stranski–Krastanov” (SK) morphology, influenced by applied electromigration stresses. Emphasis is given to the effects of rotational symmetry associated with the anisotropic diffusivity in 2D space (i.e., quantum wires in 3D). The pointed bullet-shaped “Stranski–Krastanov” islands with high aspect ratios, ξ = 0.77, are formed at the cathode edge, while the whole nanoisland slightly creeps out of the initial computational domain. The favorable configuration of the Ge20/Si80 alloy test module, which resulted in ζ = 0.37 enhancement in the contour surface area, has a dome shape attached to the [010] top surface of the Si substrate with a zone axis of {010}/⟨001⟩. The anisotropic surface diffusion dyadic has a fourfold rotational symmetry axis [001] lying on the (001) plane of the Si substrate, and its major axis is tilted at about ϕ = 45° from the applied electrostatic field extended along the longitudinal axis [100] of the substrate. This particular experiment resulted in a SK singlet peak with a small satellite with a very small aspect ratio of ≅0.2 that may be appropriate for the conception of quantum optoelectronic devices or inter-band structures to generate photoelectrons having large energy spectra, thereby increasing the efficiency of photovoltaics exposed to solar radiations.