The effect of growth kinetics upon the initial development of a cross-hatched morphology, and its subsequent evolution, was studied by using real-time in situ laser light scattering. The cross-hatched morphology was characteristic of relaxed low-strain (< 2%) layers and was related to a plastic relaxation process which was driven by the generation and multiplication of dislocations. It was observed that, if the growth rate was sufficiently low, the onset of cross-hatch formation took place at a layer thickness in which dislocation formation and multiplication had not yet appeared. This revealed that the stress field which was generated by a low density of misfit dislocations, formed by bending of dislocations which pre-existed in the substrate, was strong enough to affect the evolution of the growth-front morphology. The results also showed that the starting-point and evolution of this characteristic morphology depended upon the growth rate in such a way that, when the growth rate was lower, the cross-hatched morphology began to develop at smaller thicknesses and exhibited a faster evolution rate.

in situ Laser Light Scattering Studies of the Influence of Kinetics on Surface Morphology during Growth of In0.2Ga0.8As/GaAs. M.U.González, Y.González, L.González, M.Calleja, J.A.Sánchez-Gil: Journal of Applied Physics, 2001, 89[5], 2665-70