A detailed study was made of the strain relaxation mechanisms which occurred in the highly mismatched ZrO2/MgO system. In particular, it was shown by using reciprocal space mapping that the ZrO2 islands epitaxially grown onto the MgO substrate were fully relaxed; thus implying the formation of misfit dislocations at the interface. Furthermore, an analysis of transverse scans performed through symmetrical ZrO2 reflections for several azimuthal positions of the sample led to the conclusion that dislocations formed a square network parallel to the ZrO2 cell axes. An accurate analysis of the diffraction data revealed the existence of 2 sub-sets of misfit dislocations.

Misfit Dislocations in Highly Mismatched Oxide Interfaces, an X-ray Diffraction Study. F.Conchon, A.Boulle, R.Guinebretière: Physica Status Solidi A, 2007, 204[8], 2535-41