Elastic strain relaxation in axial Si/Ge whisker heterostructures

The elastic behavior of molecular beam epitaxy-grown SiGe/Si(111) nanowhiskers (NWs) has been studied by means of electron microscopy, x-ray scattering, and numerical linear elasticity theory. Highly brilliant synchrotron radiation was applied to map the diffusely scattered intensity near the asymmetric (115) reciprocal lattice point. The larger lattice parameter with respect to the Si matrix causes a lateral lattice expansion within embedded Ge layers. This enables a clear separation of scattering due to NWs and laterally confined areas aside. Finite element calculations prove a lateral lattice compression in the Si matrix close to the NW apex above buried threefold and single Ge layer stacks. This suggests an incorporation probability, which additionally depends on the radial position within heteroepitaxial NWs.