Epitaxial silicon dots self-assembled on aluminum nitride/Si (111)

Si nanoscale dots are synthesized on AlN/Si(111) by molecular beam epitaxy. A dot density of 2.2 × 10(11) cm(-2) with a mean radius of 5.6 ± 2.8 nm is obtained in Volmer-Weber growth mode. A double Si coverage leads to a decrease in dot density and increase in dot size. The dot orientations are [11[overline]0](Si) (or [1[overline]10](Si))//[112[overline]0](AlN) and (111)(Si)//(0001)(AlN), which are similar (or identical) to the orientation of AlN relative to the Si substrate.