DOI: 10.1051/jp1:1996230
J. Phys. I France 6 (1996) 575-581

Mechanism for Coherent Island Formation during Heteroepitaxy

C. Ratsch¹, P. Smilauer^{2, 3}, D.D. Vvedensky⁴ and A. Zangwill<sup>5

1</sup>  Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Faradayweg 4-6, 14195 Berlin, Germany
²  HLRZ, KFA Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany
³  Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Semiconductor Materials, Imperial College, London SW7 2BZ, UK
⁴  The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London SW7 2BZ, UK
⁵  School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA

(Received 17 November 1995, revised 12 December 1995, accepted 21 December 1995)

Abstract
Monte Carlo simulations are reported for an atomistic model of heteroepitaxial growth. Dislocations are excluded but lattice misfit is assumed to encourage atom detachment from islands by reducing the barrier for his process by a morphology-dependent strain energy. Three-dimensional, coherent islands of nearly uniform size are found to form spontaneously for misfit above a critical value.

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