Experimental and theoretical evidence was presented for the occurrence of a temperature- and strain-dependent roughening transition from 2-dimensional monolayer growth to 3-dimensional island growth in strained III-V compound ternary alloys and GeSi. It was found that, at sufficiently high strain-energy levels, the growth temperature exhibited an inverse-square dependence upon the areal misfit strain energy; as predicted on the basis of classical nucleation theory. The transition curve appeared to separate routes of strain relief which involved mainly 3-dimensional island formation in the higher growth-temperature versus strain regime, and misfit dislocation formation in the lower growth-temperature versus strain regime.

U.Bangert, A.J.Harvey, C.Dieker, H.Hartdegen, L.Vescan, A.Smith: Journal of Applied Physics, 1995, 78[2], 811-6