A reduction in the dislocation density of relaxed heterostructures, achieved using a low-temperature buffer, was investigated. It was shown that a 0.1 low-temperature buffer reduced the threading dislocation density, in mismatched Si0.85Ge0.15/Si epitaxial layers, to as low as 104/cm2. The samples were prepared by using gas-source molecular beam epitaxy or ultra-high vacuum chemical vapor deposition.

K.K.Linder, F.C.Zhang, J.S.Rieh, P.Bhattacharya, D.Houghton: Applied Physics Letters, 1997, 70[24], 3224-6