Periodic Arrangement of GE Islands on SI(111)

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe describe periodic arrangements of Ge islands grown on Si (111) using Ge deposition at room temperature and post-deposit annealing. A Mesh pattern of relaxed Ge islands is obtained under conditions of a Ge thickness of 10 Å and an annealing temperature of 400°C. The Mesh pattern is due to the preferential crystallization of α-Ge films at steps and at out-of-phase boundaries of 7×7 reconstructions. We also demonstrate that the Ge island pattern is modified when Ge is grown on a substrate changed by Si homoepitaxy or In adsorption.