About cookies on this site Our websites require some cookies to function properly (required). In addition, other cookies may be used with your consent to analyze site usage, improve the user experience and for advertising. For more information, please review your options. By visiting our website, you agree to our processing of information as described in IBM’sprivacy statement. To provide a smooth navigation, your cookie preferences will be shared across the IBM web domains listed here.
Publication
Applied Physics Letters
Paper
Dynamically stable growth of strained-layer superlattices
Abstract
In heteroepitaxy, misfit stress leads to a well-known instability of planar films against "roughening." In contrast, we find that growth of a strained-layer superlattice is dynamically stable under a range of growth conditions. Outside the stable range, the modulations of successive layers may be in phase, out of phase, or more complex, as summarized in a dynamical phase diagram. This remarkable behavior results from the collective influence of the buried interfaces, via their strain fields, on the evolution of the surface morphology. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.