Cross-slip events which occurred during the first stages of plastic relaxation were investigated, in low-mismatch semiconductor heterostructures, by using X-ray topography. It was shown that common and uncommon cross-slip, as well as multiple cross-slip, occurred at very low misfit dislocation densities (less than 1000/cm) in epitaxial layers. The results were explained in terms of image forces, and the resolved shear stresses which acted upon the emerging segments of threading dislocations. The image force was evaluated in the case of cross-slip on {111} glide planes, and it was shown that this force could favour the local shrinkage of the fault ribbon; thus leading to cross-slip and multiple cross-slip events. In the case of the {101} and {131} uncommon glide planes, the effects of both image forces and resolved shear stresses had to be taken into account.

Misfit Dislocation Cross-Slip in the First Stages of Plastic Relaxation in Low-Mismatch Heterostructures. M.Putero, N.Burle, B.Pichaud: Philosophical Magazine A, 2001, 81[1], 125-36