Evoluiton of height distribution of Ge islands on Si(1 0 0)

摘要

Evoluiton of the height distribution of Ge islands during in situ annealing of Ge films on Si(1 0 0) has been stuided. Island height is found to have a bimosdal distribution. The standard deviation of the island height divided by thue mean island height, for the mode of larger island size is more than that forthe other mode. We suggest that thue presence of Ehrlich-Schwoebelk barriers, combined with the misfit strain, can lead to the bimodal distribution of island size, the mode of larger island size having narrower base size distribution, but wider height distribution for Ge islands on Si(1 0 0). The kbimodal distribution of island size could be stable due to kinetoics without necessarily regarding it as minimum-energy configuration.