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Surfactant‐mediated Stranski– K rastanov islands
Author(s) -
Tonkikh Alexander A.,
Werner Peter
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.201248482
Subject(s) - nucleation , chemical physics , pulmonary surfactant , diffusion , layer (electronics) , materials science , diffusion barrier , chemistry , crystallography , nanotechnology , physics , thermodynamics , biochemistry , organic chemistry
A criterion for the growth of Stranski–Krastanov islands mediated by surfactants is obtained. It involves that surfactants decrease the island nucleation barrier. Thereby, at a low coverage ( θ ≪ 1 mono layer) surfactants facilitate islands formation. At a high coverage ( θ ≈ 1 mono layer) the islands growth might be still facilitated, but also hampered under special conditions. The latter is caused by the reduction of the ad‐atom surface diffusion. We report on a non‐monotonic dependence of Ge/Si(100) island array density on the Sb coverage and discuss it in the frame of the obtained criterion.