A phenomenological mean-field theory was presented for the kinetics of strain relaxation due to misfit dislocation generation during the strained-layer growth of epitaxial semiconductor films on thin compliant substrates. The theory provided a generalized dislocation-kinetics framework by coupling the mechanics, of an epitaxial film on a compliant substrate, to well-known descriptions of the plastic deformation dynamics in semiconductor crystals. The results successfully reproduced experimental observations of strain relaxation in a hetero-epitaxial semiconductor system.

Kinetics of Strain Relaxation through Misfit Dislocation Formation in the Growth of Epitaxial Films on Compliant Substrates. D.Maroudas, L.A.Zepeda-Ruiz, W.H.Weinberg: Applied Physics Letters, 1998, 73[6], 753-5