Nucleation and Growth Mechanisms in Hetero-Epitaxial Films

Abstract

ABSTRACTNucleation and growth mechanisms in the formation of heteroepitaxial films are reviewed. The various processes can be incorporated into rate equations to model the number density and size distribution of clusters.Recent work on extensions of this approach to include the effect of surface steps and other surface imperfections is highlighted.The most important processes are being studied experimentally using a combination of surface-analytic and -microscopic techniques, based on SEM and STEM instrumentation. Recent examples are given in which nucleation densities, surface diffusion lengths and the effects of steps have been studied in the systems Ag/Si(lll) and Ge/Si(100).