Misfit Dislocation Network Research Articles

Dislocation engineering in SiGe on periodic and aperiodic Si(001) templates studied by fast scanning X-ray nanodiffraction

Fast-scanning X-ray nanodiffraction microscopy is used to directly visualize the misfit dislocation network in a SiGe film deposited on a pit-patterned Si substrate at the beginning of plastic relaxation. X-ray real-space diffracted intensity maps are compared to topographic atomic force microscopy images, in which crosshatch lines can be seen. The change in intensity distribution as a function of the incidence angle shows localized variations in strain within the SiGe film. These variations, which reflect the order imposed by the substrate pattern, are attributed to the presence of both bunches of misfit dislocations and defect-free regions.

Defect structure of epitaxial CrxV1 − x thin films on MgO(001)

Epitaxial thin films of CrxV1−x over the entire composition range were deposited on MgO(001) by molecular beam epitaxy. The films exhibited the expected 45° in-plane rotation with no evidence of phase segregation or spinodal decomposition. Pure Cr, with the largest lattice mismatch to MgO, exhibited full relaxation and cubic lattice parameters. As the lattice mismatch decreased with alloy composition, residual epitaxial strain was observed. For 0.2≤x≤0.4 the films were coherently strained to the substrate with associated tetragonal distortion; near the lattice-matched composition of x=0.33, the films exhibited strain-free pseudomorphic matching to MgO. Unusually, films on the Cr-rich side of the lattice-matched composition exhibited more in-plane compression than expected from the bulk lattice parameters; this result was confirmed with both x-ray diffraction and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry channeling measurements. The effect of thermal expansion mismatch on strain in the heterostructure was estimated. High resolution transmission electron microscopy was utilized to characterize the misfit dislocation network present at the film/MgO interface. Dislocations were found to be present with a non-uniform distribution, which is attributed to the Volmer–Weber growth mode of the films. The CrxV1−x/MgO(001) system can serve as a model system to study the fundamentals of defect formation in bcc films.

Ion-beam synthesis and characterization of narrow-gap A3B5 nanocrystals in Si: Effect of implantation and annealing regimes

The process of InAs and GaSb nanoprecipitates creation in Si matrix using high-fluence ion implantation of species from groups V and III followed by thermal treatment has been investigated. We have studied in detail a complex system of defects and nanocrystals in implanted layers, have compared a damage level for both systems, evaluated the influence of implantation and annealing regimes on a size of A3B5 nanocrystals and on a defect distribution in implanted layers. The crystalline nature of precipitates was identified by observing Moiré fringe patterns in TEM images, the Moiré period showing a tendency to increase with increasing size of inclusion. A “glowing” effect was observed at the nanocrystal/Si interfaces in the dark-field TEM images of the implanted and annealed samples, this being ascribed to the presence of misfit dislocation networks at the InAs/Si and GaSb/Si interfaces generated as a result of strain relaxation in the highly mismatched A3B5/Si systems. Also we compared our results on structural characterization of “A3B5 nanocrystals–Si matrix” systems with other papers.

Suppression of superconductivity by strong magnetic fields in PbTe/PbS heterostructures with a superconducting interface

This is a comprehensive study of the effect of strong magnetic fields on superconductivity in PbTe/PbS heterostructures with semiconducting layers of different thicknesses. Metallic conductivity and superconductivity (critical temperature Tc ≤ 6.5 K) in PbTe/PbS heterostructures are caused by inversion of bands along a continuous network of misfit dislocations that develops at the interfaces between semiconductor layers of sufficient thickness (d > 80 nm). With decreasing d the continuity of the superconducting interface is disrupted, Tc decreases, and the metallic conductivity changes to a semiconducting type. Disruption of the continuity of the superconducting interface is found to be a necessary condition for observing a magnetic-field induced superconductor-insulator transition (SIT) and has a significant influence on its features: a fan-like set of resistance curves R(T); intersection of the R(B) curves for fields perpendicular, as well as parallel, to the interface; and, negative magnetoresistance. A scaling analysis based on Fisher's theoretical model is carried out for these samples. No evidence of a SIT was observed in heterostructures with a perfect interface. It appears that the SIT effect is related to percolation phenomena characteristic of granular superconductors.

Virtual GaN substrates via Sc2O3/Y2O3 buffers on Si(111): Transmission electron microscopy characterization of growth defects

The defects and strain of GaN(0001) films as virtual substrate on Si(111) with step-graded Sc2O3(111)/Y2O3(111) buffers were investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy. The misfit dislocation network identified in the interfaces nearly fully compensates the lattice mismatch. Inversion domains and pinholes occur within the closed GaN film. The atomic structure of the inversion domain boundaries is identified. Major parts of the films were found to be N-polar. Threading dislocations were formed as remains from the coalescence of initial GaN islands. Furthermore, the formation of small cubic inclusions is found to be restricted to the vicinity of the interface only.

Cs-Corrected Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy Investigation of Dislocation Core Configurations at a SrTiO3/MgO Heterogeneous Interface

Heterostructures and interfacial defects in a 40-nm-thick SrTiO(3) (STO) film grown epitaxially on a single-crystal MgO (001) were investigated using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and geometric phase analysis. The interface of STO/MgO was found to be of the typical domain-matching epitaxy with a misfit dislocation network having a Burgers vector of ½ a(STO) <100>. Our studies also revealed that the misfit dislocation cores at the heterogeneous interface display various local cation arrangements in terms of the combination of the extra-half inserting plane and the initial film plane. The type of the inserting plane, either the SrO or the TiO(2) plane, alters with actual interfacial conditions. Contrary to previous theoretical calculations, the starting film planes were found to be dominated by the SrO layer, i.e., a SrO/MgO interface. In certain regions, the starting film planes change to the TiO(2)/MgO interface because of atomic steps at the MgO substrate surface. In particular, four basic misfit dislocation core configurations of the STO/MgO system have been identified and discussed in relation to the substrate surface terraces and possible interdiffusion. The interface structure of the system in reverse--MgO/STO--is also studied and presented for comparison.

Electrical Isolation of Dislocations in Ge Layers on Si(001) Substrates through CMOS Compatible Suspended Structures

Suspended crystalline Ge semiconductor structures are created on a Si(001) substrate by a combination of epitaxial growth and simple patterning from the front surface using anisotropic underetching. Geometric definition of the surface Ge layer gives access to a range of planes to either retain or etch the underlying Si. The structures are aligned to avoid etch resistive planes in making the suspended regions and to take advantage of these planes to support the structures. The technique is demonstrated by forming suspended microwires, spiderwebs and Van-der Pauw cross structures. We finally report on the low temperature electrical isolation of the undoped Ge layers. This novel isolation method increases the 10{degree sign}K Ge resistivity to 280 Ω-cm, over two orders of magnitude above that of a bulk Ge on Si(001) layer, by removing material containing the underlying misfit dislocation network that otherwise provides the main source of electrical conduction.

Atomistic modeling of the interaction between matrix dislocation and interfacial misfit dislocation networks in Ni-based single crystal superalloy

To reveal the intrinsic strengthening mechanism in Ni-based single crystal superalloy, the interaction between matrix dislocations and interfacial misfit dislocation networks was modeled in this contribution via molecular dynamics (MD) method. Our results show that the role of interfacial dislocation networks is very complex. On the one hand, the interfacial dislocation networks can act as dislocation sinks to absorb/accommodate the matrix dislocations. During the accommodation process of matrix dislocation by the networks, both the interfacial Lomer–Cottrell locks and a[100] dislocation junctions are formed, which stabilize and strengthen the interfacial dislocation networks. On the other hand, the interfacial dislocation networks can provide dislocation pins to prevent the matrix dislocations from cutting into the γ′ precipitate. These matrix dislocation segments pinned at the phase interface can serve as Frank–Read sources with their length being about half of the dislocation network spacing, providing an explanation for the effect of dislocation network spacing on the creep strength of the Ni-based single crystal superalloy.

Hydrogen absorption in thin ZnO films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

ZnO films with thickness of80 nm were grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on MgO (1 0 0) single crys- tal and amorphous fused silica (FS) substrates. Structural studies of ZnO films and a high quality reference ZnO single crystal were performed by slow positron implantation spectroscopy (SPIS). It was found that ZnO films exhibit significantly higher density of defects than the reference ZnO crystal. Moreover, the ZnO film deposited on MgO substrate exhibits higher concentration of defects than the film deposited on amorphous FS substrate most probably due to a dense network of misfit dislocations. The ZnO films and the reference ZnO crystal were subsequently loaded with hydrogen by electrochemical cathodic charging. SPIS character- izations revealed that absorbed hydrogen introduces new defects into ZnO.

Behavior of Vacancies and Interstitials at Semicoherent Interfaces

Using atomistic simulations on a model semicoherent interface, we show that the formation, migration, and clustering of vacancies and interstitials at semicoherent interfaces depend on the structure of the misfit dislocation network of the interface. Interfacial point defects trap at misfit dislocation intersections and migrate from one intersection to another along misfit dislocations by a multistage process. Interfacial point defect clusters are thermodynamically less stable than individual defects and the largest cluster size depends on the spacing between misfit dislocation intersections. Our results show that the behavior of interfacial point defects is intimately connected to interface structure.

Electrical isolation of dislocations in Ge layers on Si(001) substrates through CMOS-compatible suspended structures

Suspended crystalline Ge semiconductor structures are created on a Si(001) substrate by a combination of epitaxial growth and simple patterning from the front surface using anisotropic underetching. Geometric definition of the surface Ge layer gives access to a range of crystalline planes that have different etch resistance. The structures are aligned to avoid etch-resistive planes in making the suspended regions and to take advantage of these planes to retain the underlying Si to support the structures. The technique is demonstrated by forming suspended microwires, spiderwebs and van der Pauw cross structures. We finally report on the low-temperature electrical isolation of the undoped Ge layers. This novel isolation method increases the Ge resistivity to 280 Ω cm at 10 K, over two orders of magnitude above that of a bulk Ge on Si(001) layer, by removing material containing the underlying misfit dislocation network that otherwise provides the main source of electrical conduction.

Study of GaSb Layers Grown on Ga/Si(111)-√3×√3 by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

GaSb layers grown on a Ga-terminated Si(111) surface have been studied by ultrahigh-vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy. Two types of two-dimensional islands are locally formed on the initial GaSb growth layer on Ga/Si(111)-√3×√3 at a Ga coverage of about 1.2 ML and a Ga/Sb ratio of 4.4. The first type of island is higher than the initial growth layer by a bi-atomic step height. The triangular protrusions on this island correspond to those on the initial GaSb layer. A hexagonal pattern that is higher than the initial growth layer by double the height of the bi-atomic step is observed on the second type of island. Protrusions in the pattern are arrayed at approximately 0.8 nm intervals, which is the distance between twice the unit cell length of Si and GaSb, along the intrinsic direction of the Si(111) surface. Defect lines similar to the misfit dislocation network are observed on the island. These results suggest that the island corresponds to the slightly lattice-relaxed GaSb third layer. A three-dimensional island is formed on the third GaSb layer as GaSb coverage increases. These results indicate that the third GaSb layer is the nucleation site of the three-dimensional GaSb island on Si(111).

Study of GaSb Layers Grown on Ga/Si(111)-√3×√3 by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

GaSb layers grown on a Ga-terminated Si(111) surface have been studied by ultrahigh-vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy. Two types of two-dimensional islands are locally formed on the initial GaSb growth layer on Ga/Si(111)-√3×√3 at a Ga coverage of about 1.2 ML and a Ga/Sb ratio of 4.4. The first type of island is higher than the initial growth layer by a bi-atomic step height. The triangular protrusions on this island correspond to those on the initial GaSb layer. A hexagonal pattern that is higher than the initial growth layer by double the height of the bi-atomic step is observed on the second type of island. Protrusions in the pattern are arrayed at approximately 0.8 nm intervals, which is the distance between twice the unit cell length of Si and GaSb, along the intrinsic direction of the Si(111) surface. Defect lines similar to the misfit dislocation network are observed on the island. These results suggest that the island corresponds to the slightly lattice-relaxed GaSb third layer. A three-dimensional island is formed on the third GaSb layer as GaSb coverage increases. These results indicate that the third GaSb layer is the nucleation site of the three-dimensional GaSb island on Si(111).

Influence of stress state on the evolution of misfit dislocation networks in a Ni‐based single crystal superalloy

The structural evolution of interfacial dislocation networks in a Ni‐based single crystal superalloy under various stress states was simulated by molecular dynamics (MD). From the simulation, we found that the dislocation network exhibits different deformation and damage mechanisms under various stress states. The square dislocation network at the (100) phase interface is the easiest to damage under a [100] uniaxial load, but more difficult to damage when multi‐axial loads are applied. This suggests that the application of a [100] direction axial load is the key factor for the damage of the square dislocation network, which leads to failure of the Ni‐based single crystal superalloy under the [100] axial centrifugal load. Moreover, based on MD simulations, the effects of the stress state on γ′ rafting were explored. The results indicate that the morphology of γ′ raft depends on the damage structures of the dislocation network under various stress states.

3 µm diode lasers grown on (Al)GaInSb compositionally graded metamorphic buffer layers

Diode lasers operating at 3 µm in continuous wave mode at room temperature were fabricated using metamorphic molecular beam epitaxy. The laser heterostructures have a lattice constant 1.3–1.6% bigger than that of the GaSb substrates. The mismatch between the epi-structure and the substrate lattice constants was accommodated by a network of misfit dislocations confined within linearly compositionally graded buffer layers. Two types of the buffers were tested—GaInSb and AlGaInSb. The laser heterostructures with Al-containing buffer layers demonstrated better surface morphology and produced devices with lower threshold and higher efficiency. At the same time the use of Al-containing buffers caused an excessive voltage drop across the laser heterostructure. Thus, a maximum continuous wave output power of 200 mW was obtained from lasers grown on GaInSb buffers, while only 170 mW was obtained from those grown on AlGaInSb buffers.

Evolution of misfit dislocation network and tensile properties in Ni-based superalloys: a molecular dynamics simulation

The structural evolution of dislocation network is closely related to ′ rafting and tensile properties. In this work, the effects of strain rate and temperature on the structural evolution of interface dislocation network in Ni-based superalloys are studied by molecular dynamics simulations. The correlation between the evolution of dislocation network and tensile properties is also explored. The results indicate that the dislocation network shows different degrees of deformation and damage at various strain rates and temperatures. The ′ rafting depends on the damage structure of dislocation network at various strain rates and temperatures. Moreover, the tensile properties of interface in Ni-based superalloys are closely related to the evolution of dislocation network and dislocation motion mechanisms. Ni-based superalloys, tensile properties, dislocation network, rafting, molecular dynamics simulation

Nucleation Sequence of InAs Quantum Dots on Cross-Hatch Patterns

InAs quantum dots (QDs) are grown via molecular beam epitaxy on cross-hatch pattern (CHP) templates that result from lattice-mismatched epitaxy of In(x)Ga(1-x)As on (100)-GaAs substrates. Growth of InAs on low-(x = 0.10) and medium-(x = 0.13) mismatch CHPs with InAs thickness grading from sub- to beyond critical thickness show different stages of QD nucleation that is dictated mainly by surface steps. Tangential surface stress fields arising from the buried network of (110) misfit dislocations (MDs) at the InGaAs/GaAs interface are simulated in two dimensions and found to have a direct correlation to QD height at various locations, implying sequential QD nucleation at the surface intersection of the glide plane of dislocation T-section, cross-hatch intersection, threading dislocation, [1-10] MD line, and [110] MD line, followed by nucleation on the flat areas. Deviations from this nominal sequence is possible due to material anisotropy and are accounted for in the stress calculation by dislocation-specific scaling factors.

Molecular dynamical investigation on dislocation near twist-grain boundary of Ni under compression

The dislocations and the strength of a nickel bicrystal are investigated in present study. There are three kinds of crystalline orientations of the nickel bicrystal, namely (100), (110), and (111). Misfit dislocations are presented on the interface between two nickel grains when a compression process is utilized on the bicrystal. The misfit dislocations on a Ni(100) interface form a square-latticed network and those on a Ni(111) form a triangle-latticed network. When a large twist angle is applied to the Ni bicrystal, the square- and triangle-latticed unit of the misfit dislocation networks will shrink or even disappear. Thus, a plane defects distribute over the interface. If the bicrystal is compressed further, dislocations within each grain are developed from the defects on the interface between grains. The configuration of the dislocations within grains is more regular when the applied twist angle is smaller. A Ni(111) bicrystal owns the largest amount of maximal stress no matter what the twist angle is. Those of a Ni(110) bicrystal is the second and of a Ni(100) bicrystal is the smallest.

Atomic arrangement at the 3C-SiC/Si(001) interface revealed utilising aberration-corrected transmission electron microscope

The atomistic structure of the 3C-SiC/Si(001) interface has been investigated using a combination of aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy and a newly developed image processing method for eliminating artificial contrast. The structures having periods four times longer than those of the silicon lattice have been observed distinctly in images taken along both Si[110] and Si[100] directions. Contrary to theoretical models proposed previously, the interface of the three-dimensional structural model that we constructed on the basis of our experiments has a silicon-rich configuration. We have clarified that the strain field induced by the two-dimensional misfit between Si(001)-(4 × 4) and SiC(001)-(5 × 5) is relaxed by the two-dimensional network of misfit dislocations; simple edge dislocations with [100] and [010] directions and Lomer dislocations with [110] and [110] directions. The atomistic structures of the Lomer dislocations have been also clarified.

Selective Ge heteroepitaxy on free-standing Si (001) nanopatterns: A combined Raman, transmission electron microscopy, and finite element method study

We report on Ge selectively grown by chemical vapor deposition on free-standing Si(001) nanostructures for future photonic applications. Si(001) substrate is patterned in the form of 140-nm-high and 150-nm-wide stripes along the 〈110〉 crystal direction with sidewalls and trenches covered by a thermal SiO2 mask. The selectivity of Ge deposition is triggered by opening growth windows of uncovered Si on top of each nanopillar. The samples with 15- and 25-nm-thick oxide mask are characterized by Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy supported by finite element method simulation. The analysis indicates that, although nanopatterned Si is stressed by thermal oxide, the Si structure quality is not affected. Additionally, the epi-Ge crystal grows in a relaxed form and nearly the whole strain energy is released by the nucleation of a misfit dislocation network at the Ge/Si interface. The residual stress is mainly accumulated in the bird’s beak region of Ge/Si nanostructures.