An analysis was made of the generation and evolution of partial misfit dislocations at the vertices of V-shaped configurations of stacking-fault bands which terminated in the bulk of the growing film at 90° partial Shockley dislocations. The critical thickness, of an epitaxial film, at which the generation of such defect configurations became energetically favorable was calculated. It was shown that, for small misfits, the first to be generated were perfect misfit dislocations. Partial dislocations were generated at large misfits, and were located at the vertices of V-shaped stacking-fault band configurations which emerged at the film surface. Further evolution of stacking-fault band configurations occurred with increasing film thickness.

Generation and Evolution of Partial Misfit Dislocations and Stacking Faults in Thin-Film Heterostructures. M.Y.Gutkin, K.N.Mikaelyan, I.A.Ovidko: Physics of the Solid State, 2001, 43[1], 42-6