Anisotropic extended misfit dislocations in overcritical SiGe films by local substrate patterning

In this work we will show how local substrate patterning leads to a long range controlled propagation of dislocations in SiGe films grown on Si(001) substrates. Dislocations preferentially nucleate in the inhomogeneous strain field associated with the patterned pits, and then partialize on the local (111) surfaces which form the pit sidewalls. The resulting V-shaped defects extend for several microns and effectively block the propagation of randomly nucleated dislocations which propagate in the perpendicular direction. The surface morphology and strain fields associated with the extended defects have been characterized by atomic force microscopy and μRaman spectroscopy, and the defects have been directly observed with high resolution transmission electron microscopy.