Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 216103 (2005) [4 pages]

Lateral Motion of SiGe Islands Driven by Surface-Mediated Alloying

Abstract

References

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U. Denker^1,2, A. Rastelli^1,*, M. Stoffel¹, J. Tersoff³, G. Katsaros¹, G. Costantini¹, K. Kern¹, N. Y. Jin-Phillipp⁴, D. E. Jesson², and O. G. Schmidt¹
¹Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Heisenbergstr. 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
²School of Physics and Materials Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia
³IBM Research Division, T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA
⁴Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, Heisenbergstr. 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany

Received 10 November 2004; published 3 June 2005

SiGe islands move laterally on a Si(001) substrate during in situ postgrowth annealing. This surprising behavior is revealed by an analysis of the substrate surface morphology after island removal using wet chemical etching. We explain the island motion by asymmetric surface-mediated alloying. Material leaves one side of the island by surface diffusion, and mixes with additional Si from the surrounding surface as it redeposits on the other side. Thus the island moves laterally while becoming larger and more dilute.

URL:

http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.216103

DOI:

10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.216103

PACS:

68.65.Hb, 68.37.Ef, 68.47.Fg, 78.67.Hc

^*Electronic address: a.rastelli@fkf.mpg.de

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 216103 (2005) [4 pages]

Lateral Motion of SiGe Islands Driven by Surface-Mediated Alloying