Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 216101 (2004) [4 pages]Origin of Apparent Critical Thickness for Island Formation in HeteroepitaxyReceived 14 May 2004; published 16 November 2004 We find that a continuum model of heteroepitaxy exhibits a sharp crossover with increasing coverage, from planar growth to island formation. The “critical thickness” at which this Stranski-Krastanov transition occurs depends sensitively on misfit strain, with a dependence strikingly similar to that seen experimentally. The initial planar growth occurs because of intermixing of deposited material with the substrate. While the transition is strictly kinetic in nature, it depends only weakly on growth rate. The role of surface segregation is also discussed. © 2004 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.216101
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.216101
PACS:
68.65.Hb, 68.35.Dv, 81.15.Aa, 81.16.Dn
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