The dislocation morphologies in compositionally graded SiGe epilayers which had been grown onto (001)Si substrates at low temperatures were studied by using various experimental techniques that were sensitive to plastic activity at various length scales. It was demonstrated that strain relief in the thick metastable layers was provided by ordered dislocation configurations that were composed of narrow slip bands. These configurations were consistent with the dislocation morphologies that were predicted by the self-adjustment model for misfit dislocations. It was shown that the crystallographic slip of misfit dislocations in these layers could be used as the basis for a new and straightforward technique for the spatial patterning of semiconductor material on large areas at the nm length scale.

S.J.Shiryaev, F.Jensen, J.W.Petersen, J.L.Hansen, A.N.Larsen: Journal of Crystal Growth, 1995, 157[1-4], 132-6