Spectroscopic ellipsometric study of strain relaxation and size evolution of Ge islands grown on Si(100)

n this article we discuss the use of spectroscopic ellipsometry for an in situ and real time probe of three-dimensional self-organized Ge island growth on Si (100) surfaces. We will show that atomic force microscopy and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy can be combined with spectroscopic ellipsometry to give information on the size and shape evolution of the Ge islands as well as on the amount of Ge deposited on the Si surface