The surface of a compressively strained InAs epilayer, grown onto a (110) GaAs substrate, was resolved at the atomic scale by means of scanning tunnelling microscopy. The growth of the InAs film (more than 5 monolayers) involved dislocations which nucleated at the surface and then channelled down to relieve the strain at the buried interface with the substrate. The disruption of the atomic geometry of the InAs surface layer, due to this dislocation motion and the accommodation of these imperfections by continuing epitaxy, was analyzed.

J.G.Belk, D.W.Pashley, C.F.McConville, J.L.Sudijono, B.A.Joyce, T.S.Jones: Physical Review B, 1997, 56[16], 10289-96