Thermal relaxation of metastable strained-layer Ge(X)Si(1-x)/Si epitaxy.
01 January 1985
The kinetics of annealing relaxation of metastably strained Ge(x)Si(1-x) films grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on Si (100) were studied by ion channeling and electron microscopy. Initial relaxation of films 50 nm or more thick proceeds by logarithmic time dependent growth of dislocations near the interface, a creep process which partially relieves local strain and has comparatively less influence on the strain at the surface.