Dislocations Of Mixed Character Research Articles

Effect of dislocations on electrical and electron transport properties of InN thin films. I. Strain relief and formation of a dislocation network

The strain-relaxation phenomena and the formation of a dislocation network in 2H-InN epilayers during molecular beam epitaxy are reported. Plastic and elastic strain relaxations were studied by reflection high-energy electron diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and high resolution x-ray diffraction. Characterization of the surface properties has been performed using atomic force microscopy and photoelectron spectroscopy. In the framework of the growth model the following stages of the strain relief have been proposed: plastic relaxation of strain by the introduction of geometric misfit dislocations, elastic strain relief during island growth, formation of threading dislocations induced by the coalescence of the islands, and relaxation of elastic strain by the introduction of secondary misfit dislocations. The model emphasizes the determining role of the coalescence process in the formation of a dislocation network in heteroepitaxially grown 2H-InN. Edge-type threading dislocations and dislocations of mixed character have been found to be dominating defects in the wurtzite InN layers. It has been shown that the threading dislocation density decreases exponentially during the film growth due to recombination and, hence, annihilation of dislocations, reaching ∼109cm−2 for ∼2200nm thick InN films.

Correlation between structural and electrical properties of InN thin films prepared by molecular beam epitaxy

The strain-relaxation phenomena and the formation of a dislocation network in 2 H -InN epilayers during molecular beam epitaxy are reported. The proposed growth model emphasizes the dominant role of the coalescence process in the formation of a dislocation network in 2 H -InN. Edge type threading dislocations and dislocations of mixed character have been found to be the dominating defects in wurtzite InN layers. It is demonstrated that these dislocations are active suppliers of electrons and an exponential decay of their density with the thickness implies a corresponding decay in the carrier density. Room temperature mobility in excess of 1500 cm 2 V −1 s −1 was obtained for ∼800 nm thick InN layers with dislocation densities of ∼3×10 9 cm −2 .

The character of micropipes in silicon carbide crystals

There has been some question as whether micropipes in SiC crystals, giant dislocations that possess hollow cores and lie roughly along the hexagonal c-direction, are screw dislocations with Burgers vectors of nc, where n is an integer, or are dislocations of mixed character, with Burgers vector nc + ma, where m is equal to n or possibly different from n. X-ray topographs of the basal faces of PVT-grown 4H-SiC wafers containing micropipes taken in both back-reflection and grazing-incidence geometries are compared with computer simulations of micropipe images. The deviation from circular symmetry of micropipe images in such topographs may be explained as well by the micropipe's tilt from the c-direction as by an nc + ma nature. The contrast of micropipes in electron micrographs comprises of a pair of light and dark lobes consisting of a detailed system of subsidiary fringes. These are comparable with micropipe image computer simulations for Burgers vector nc. When an na edge component is introduced to the simulation, a small feature, a few hundred nm wide, appears, which is absent from the micrographs.

X-Ray Diffraction Line Broadening from Gold and Platinum Thin Films

X-ray diffraction line profile analysis has been used to study the microstructure of (Ill) oriented gold and platinum thin films deposited by thermal evaporation and DC magnetron sputtering. In addition to crystallite size broadening, the profiles from these films displayed broadening arising from dislocations. A parallel investigation, using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was undertaken to study the nature of dislocations formed, and to provide information on the dimensions of the crystallite columns in the films. X-ray data were collected at room temperature to determine the anisotropy of the broadening with (hkl), using a Siemens D5000 powder diffractometer (CuKa radiation) and two high-resolution synchrotron instruments (BM 16 at the ESRF [A=0.35A] and station 2.3 at the Daresbury laboratory. Two approaches to instrument deconvolution were investigated; Fourier deconvolution and fundamental parameters profile fitting, using Lab6 as a reference material to determine the instrument profile function. After removal of the crystallite size broadening contribution from the measured integral breadths, the residual microstrain broadening was modelled assuming dislocations based on a FCC a/2 { Ill} slip system. The results of the X-ray analysis agreed with dark field TEM micrographs, which showed that many of the crystallites contained dislocations of mixed character (screw- edge).

Characterization of the High Temperature Dislocation Substructure of Mosi2

AbstractThe dislocation substructure of polycrystalline MoSi2 deformed in compression at temperatures ranging from 900°C to 1300°C has been investigated. Slip is found to occur primarily by <100> Burgers vectors. A quantitative characterization of the <100> dislocation substructure is developed for several deformation temperatures, including the slip systems present and the relative occurrence of each. Orientation distributions showing the screw/edge character of the <100> dislocations are generated at each deformation temperature. Variations in these distributions with temperature are noted, and the implications of these variations to the deformation behavior of MoSi2 are discussed. Notable observations include the onset of dislocation climb between 900°C and 1100°C, a strong preference for dislocations of mixed character at 900°C, and the complete absence of pure screw dislocations from 900°C to 1300°C.

{103}⟨331⟩ slip in MoSi2

Abstract {103}⟨331⟩ slip is found to be activated in MoSi2 single crystals by deformation along [001] in uniaxial compression at 1000°C. The {103} slip plane has been determined by slip trace analysis. Observations by transmission electron microscopy reveal the presence of screw dislocations with a Burgers vector of ½⟨331⟩. However, ½⟨331⟩ dislocations of mixed character lying along the ⟨ 010 ⟩ direction are observed to have decomposed into two other perfect dislocations by the energetically favourable reaction ½⟨ 331 ⟩→½⟨111⟩ + ⟨110⟩. The occurrence of such dislocation decomposition explains the difficulty of observing ½⟨331⟩ dislocations in previous work. The ½⟨331⟩ screw dislocations have been examined by weak-beam dark-field microscopy but dissociation into three ½⟨331⟩ collinear partials could not be detected.