Utilizing a model adapted from classical nucleation theory [8], we calculate a "critical thickness" for island formation, taking into account the surface energies of the deposit and the substrate and the elastic modulus of the deposit, to which experimental results for CVD grown silicon germanium thin films are compared.

Coauthors:A. H. King, R. J. Gambino

Transmission electron microscopy was performed at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Hanscom AFB, MA and at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory with the assistance of Mr. Paul Nitishin.

Work was funded by a United States Air Force Palace Knight fellowship.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Brian Demczyk (2012), "On the Two to Three Dimensional Growth Transition in Strained Silicon Germanium Thin Films," https://nanohub.org/resources/13003.

  BibTex | EndNote

1. nanoelectronics
2. quantum dots
3. silicon germanium
4. thin film growth
5. transmission electron microscopy (TEM)