Islanding and surface diffusion in semiconductor heteroepitaxy: Ge on Si.

Islanding and surface diffusion for Ge on Si(111)7x7 and Si (100)2x1 surfaces were examined in a UHV apparatus with in situ scanning Auger/SEM capabilities. At room-temperature uniform growth is observed, while elevated temperatures lead to Stranski-Krastanov growth with complex island size distribution. Extensive surface diffusion is observed on Si(100)2x1; however, surface diffusion is demonstrated to be extremely sensitive to contamination with carbon on the order of ~0.05ML, as well as to e-beam irradiation.