The relationship between microscopic mechanisms and macroscopic growth behavior was considered. Firstly, a macroscopic theory of growth behavior in semiconductor hetero-epitaxy was introduced which included the effects of the formation of Stranski-Krastanov islands and misfit dislocations. This theory could reproduce the various types of growth behavior observed in hetero-epitaxial growth. A procedure was then formulated for determining the phenomenological parameters that includes atomistic information. The critical thickness of InAs/GaAs(110) hetero-epitaxy obtained by this procedure was in good agreement with the scanning tunneling microscopic observations.

First Principles and Macroscopic Theories of Semiconductor Epitaxial Growth. K.Shiraishi, N.Oyama, K.Okajima, N.Miyagishima, K.Takeda, H.Yamaguchi, T.Ito, T.Ohno: Journal of Crystal Growth, 2002, 237-239, 206-11