It was recalled that partial relaxation of misfit stresses and thermal stresses occurred during the plastic deformation of epitaxial layers. The degree of plastic deformation was governed by the elastic constants of the film, and by parameters such as the growth temperature, cooling rate and epitaxial layer thickness. It was suggested that dislocation formation could occur according to the condensation model, and that point defects could be the cause. Calculations confirmed the possibility of vacancy agglomeration in the form of small dislocation loops.

L.N.Aleksandrov, L.A.Mitlina, V.N.Kostilov, T.V.Yankovskaya: Physica Status Solidi A, 1994, 145[2], 255-62