Stress dependence of dislocation glide activation energy in single-crystal silicon-germanium alloys up to 2.6 GPa

A new approach to the study of plastic flow in semiconductors is introduced. By analyzing relaxation of misfit strain in metastable strained-layer structures, the effects of resolved shear stress up to several GPa can be examined, at least an order of magnitude larger than is accessible using conventional loading techniques. This new approach is used to study stress-dependent dislocation dynamics in silicon-germanium crystals at resolved shear stresses as high as 2.6 GPa. The results are consistent with a conventional picture of dislocation dynamics which includes climb and glide processes, where the glide activation energy depends linearly on the applied stress.