Surfactant induced reversible changes of surface morphology

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Abstract
We have investigated the influence of a surfactant on the equilibrium surface morphology in the pseudomorphic regime of heteroepitaxial growth. At 700 °C, 8 monolayers of Ge on Si(001) using Sb as surfactant form strained islands with a size of ∼300 Å, allowing partial elastic relaxation. The surface morphology depends strongly on the Sb coverage and changes from islands with [117] facets at high Sb coverage via round, flat cones with an inclination angle of 12° to islands rotated by 45° with [105] facets formed during growth at low Sb coverage. The equilibrium conditions are verified by the reversible transition from [117] facets to 12° cones initiated by a change of the surfactant coverage.