Dislocation Arrays in the Interfaces between Substrates and Epitaxial Islands

Abstract

We present a model for dislocation array image effects during epilayer island growth. Misfit dislocations often appear at an interface between phases, to accommodate a lattice mismatch. In many situations, such as early film growth, one of the phases may be discontinuous, leaving the interface region clearly bounded. The structure of such a finite interface differs from the normally-modeled infinite boundary because of end effects near the edges of the islands. We have modeled the dislocation structure of such a finite interface in MBE-grown InAs islands on GaP, and compare our results to high-resolution images of the same structure. The 11% misfit causes dislocation introduction from the outset of growth. Islands containing between 4 and 14 dislocations were examined, and dislocation spacings were found to be enlarged near the island perimeters. The model provides a clear understanding of this and other effects.