Proximity Effects of the Vacuum and Substrate on the Behavior of Ultrathin Epilayers

Abstract

The present considerations are motivated by (i) the need to grow thin films with perfection in crystallinity and thickness uniformity, both of importance for purposes of device fabrication and the study of two-dimensional systems, and (ii) by the importance to understand the roles of vacuum and substrate proximity effects during the ultrathin growth stage, as these effects may be decisive in tailoring the final product. It is accepted (a) that the need is best served by growing epitaxially—a substrate proximity phenomenon—and (b) that the quality of epilayers depends greatly on the mode of misfit accommodation at the epilayer-substrate interface and on the mode of growth. In classical theoretical analyses of epitaxy, these modes are modeled in terms of the interfacial lattice misfit, the amplitudes of lateral variation of interfacial atomic interaction, defect energies of the bicrystal and the elastic properties of the epilayer. The aim of this paper is to report on and search for perspective of attempts to quantify—using embedded-atom method potentials—the effects of vacuum and substrate proximities on these modeling parameters. The objective is to focus attention on the fact that the ultrathin film values of these parameters may be significantly different from their bulk values, which have been employed in the past for predictive purposes.