Optimal and nonoptimal misfit stress relaxation in a semiconductor heterosystem
Misfit stress relaxation processes in a semiconductor heterosystem are divided into optimal and nonoptimal. Depending on the type of a process and degree of its completeness, four variants of a uniform stress field are established and experimentally detected in the surface layer of an epitaxial film. The interaction between threading dislocations that favors the transformation of nonoptimal relaxation into optimal is investigated.