Growth of Group IV-IV heterostructures: Initial stages of interface formation.

The two major issues in the growth of a heterostructure are (1) the degree of perfection of the overlayer and (2) the sharpness of the interface. The initial stages of interface formation play a crucial role in this respect. Relevant questions are addressed under atomically clean conditions in the Si/Ge Si/Si and Ge/Sn systems, using ion scattering surface analysis, low energy electron diffraction and Auger electron spectroscopy. Of particular interest with respect to (1) is the general role of reconstruction in epitaxial growth: A necessary condition for perfect growth is the reordering of the substrate surface reconstruction. We show that the deposition temperature necessary to achieve this reordering depends strongly on the topography of the substrate reconstruction.