Misfit grainlets: Point strain sources compensating misfit during epitaxial growth

We propose a misfit relaxation mechanism that may occur during growth in highly misfitting layers. It is based on a misfit compensating distribution of physical point strain sources at the interface between layer and substrate instead of misfit dislocations. These point strain sources are realized by interfacial islands (misfit grainlets) that have a lattice misfit opposite in sign to that of the surrounding epitaxial layer, in most cases brought about by an orientation relationship different from that of the surrounding layer to the substrate. We demonstrate the effectiveness in strain relaxation of misfit grainlets with an analysis of the interface structure of GaN on sapphire and discuss the formation of misfit grainlets in terms of a self-organized island growth process. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.