Numerical simulations were used to follow the evolution of an initial density of dislocation loops, in an infinite strained layer, to the point where the dislocations stopped moving. It was found that many of the threading arms were either annihilated, or prematurely immobilized, by hardening interactions such as jogging and junction-formation. The remaining dislocation arms were eventually trapped by stress fluctuations that arose more from local over-relaxation than from the blocking mechanisms which were usually considered. The degree of relaxation that could be attained depended strongly upon the initial density of threading arms.

Discrete Dislocation Dynamics Study of Strained-Layer Relaxation. K.W.Schwarz: Physical Review Letters, 2003, 91[14], 145503 (4pp)