The dislocation structure of GexSi1−x films (x ~ 0.4 to 0.5) grown by molecular epitaxy onto Si(001) substrates tilted by 6° about the (011) axis was studied. It was shown that, in the tilt direction, edge misfit dislocations arose only in the form of short segments lying on the intersections of 60° misfit dislocations. Thus, the total length of edge misfit dislocations along the substrate tilt direction was smaller than that along the tilt axis. The deviation of the substrate surface from the singular plane made it possible to detect a dislocation configuration that consisted of a short segment of an edge misfit dislocations and 2 diverging 60° misfit dislocations propagating from it in the tilt direction. The formation of the segment was assumed to begin with the simultaneous nucleation of complementary dislocation half-loops that formed a short edge misfit dislocations on the interface and then propagated on one side as 2 diverging 60° misfit dislocation lines.

Formation of Misfit Edge Dislocations in GexSi1−x Films ( x ~ 0.4–0.5) Grown on Tilted Si(001) → (111) Substrates. Y.B.Bolkhovityanov, A.K.Gutakovskii, A.S.Deryabin, L.V.Sokolov: Physics of the Solid State, 2008, 50[10], 1857-61