The method of the molecular-beam epitaxy, at 300 to 400C, was used to grow GexSi1−x/Si(001) films with a constant composition (x = 0.19 to 0.32) across a film and as well as 2-layer heterostructures with the Ge content at the upper layer no lower than 0.41. Using transmission electron microscopy, it was shown that the main caused of an increase in the density of threading dislocations with increasing Ge fraction in the plastically relaxed films was the origination of the dislocation half-loops at the film surface; in turn, these dislocation half-loops were generated owing to the formation of a three-dimensional profile at the surface of the growing or annealed film.

Origination of Misfit Dislocations at the Surface during the Growth of GeSi/Si(001) Films by Low-Temperature (300–400C) Molecular-Beam Epitaxy. Y.B.Bolkhovityanov, A.S.Deryabin, A.K.Gutakovskiĭ, M.A.Revenko, L.V.Sokolov: Semiconductors, 2006, 40[3], 319-26