Self-Organized Growth of Alloy Superlattices

We predict theoretically and demonstrate experimentally the spontaneous formation of a superlattice during crystal growth. When a strained alloy grows by "step flow", the steps at the surface form periodic bunches. The resulting modulated strain biases the incorporation of the respective alloy components at different steps in the bunch, leading to the formation of a superlattice. X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy for SiGe grown on Si give clear evidence for such spontaneous superlattice formation