Generation of misfit dislocations in semiconductors

The acting slip mechanism for the generation of misfit dislocations in diamond-type–semiconductor heterostructures is investigated with transmission electron microscopy. It is shown that dissociation of the 60°-mixed dislocations can lead to a difference in strain accommodation for tensile and compressive strain. A strain/thickness relation is obtained from the energy expression for nucleation of half-loops. This relation is compared with other theoretical relations and with experimental strain data for Si/GaP(001) and In0.07Ga0.93As/GaAs(001) , measured with transmission electron microscopy and ion blocking.