Abstract
The morphological evolution and the effect of growth temperature on size, orientation and composition of molecular beam epitaxy grown Ge–Si islands on Si(5 5 12) surfaces have been investigated in the temperature range from room temperature to 800 °C. Two modes of substrate heating, i.e. radiative heating (RH) and direct current heating (DH) have been used. The post-growth characterization was carried out ex situ by scanning electron microscopy, cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. In the RH case, we found spherical island structures at 600 °C with a bimodal distribution and upon increasing temperature, the structures got faceted at 700 °C. At 800 °C thick (∼122 nm) dome-like structures are formed bounded by facets. While in the case of dc heating, after the optimum critical temperature 600 °C, well aligned trapezoidal Si1−xGex structures with a graded composition starts forming along the step edges. Interestingly, these aligned structures have been found only around 600 °C, neither at low temperature nor at higher temperatures.
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