OSTWALD RIPENING IN THIN EPITAXIAL LAYERS.

13 October 1988

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Three dimensional clustering has been observed in thin film depositions of Sn, Ga, and Ge on Si. A power low dependence of the cluster radius versus time and cluster size distributions were measured for these systems and shown to be in agreement with an Ostwald ripening mechanism. In this paper the basic equations involving two and three dimensional ripening will be derived in detail and the limitations of this formalism will be discussed.