The initial stage of hetero-epitaxial growth of Ge films on a Si (100) -2×1 surface has been investigated by LEED and AES. When the substrate is kept at room temperature, layer by layer growth of Ge films is observed up to 6 monolayers. For the substrare heated at 350°C, the growth of Ge films is characterized by the Stranski-Krastanov type, i.e., the first 3 monolayers grow as layer by layer followed by a 3-dimensional island formation. The growth mechanism thus studied is similar to a case of Ge on Si (111) -7×7 surface. However the change of AES intensity of Ge on Si (100) by annealing suggests that the bond strength between Ge and Si is stronger on Si (100) than on Si (111) surface. On contrast to a case of Ge on Si (111) -7×7 surface, where 7×7 superstructure is replaced by 5×5 one at about 2 monolayers coverage of Ge, Ge on Si (100) -2×1 also still retains the 2×1 superstructure.
View full abstract