The driving force for glide of a threading dislocation in a strained epitaxial layer on a substrate

Abstract

T he process of epitaxial growth of a very thin layer onto a substrate crystal is considered for the particular situation in which the layer and substrate materials have the same crystal structure and orientation but different lattice parameters. Under these conditions, the layer grows with an intrinsic elastic strain determined by the mismatch in lattice parameters. The associated stress in the crystalline layer provides a driving force for the nucleation and motion of defects, primarily dislocations. The focus here is on the glide of a dislocation extending from the free surface of the layer to the layer-substrate interface, the so-called threading dislocation. A general definition of driving force for glide of a threading dislocation is introduced on the basis of work arguments. The definition is then applied to calculate the driving force for steady motion of an isolated threading dislocation in a strained layer, and the result includes Matthews' critical thickness concept as one of its features. Next, a kinetic equation for glide of a dislocation in semiconductor materials is proposed to estimate the glide rate of a threading dislocation in these low mobility materials. Finally, for the case of cubic materials, the general definition of driving force is applied to estimate the additional driving force on a threading dislocation due to an encounter with a dislocation on an intersecting glide plane. The results indicate that this effect is significant in blocking the glide of a threading dislocation for large mismatch strains and for layer thicknesses near the critical thickness.