1. Ge nanostressors on silicon-on-insulator (SOI)
Discovered that a quantum dot crystal can exert enough stress to bend the underlying Si template layer in SOI, and cause the oxide to flow. Molecular dynamics simulations confirm the bending. Implications for nanoflow of amorphous materials, electronic properties of locally bent Si (local valley splitting), “membrane electronics”
STM image of Ge “hut” on bulk Si(001)
TEM image of Ge “hut” on SOI(001), with 10nm Si template layer
SOI with a Ge hut
Local shear stress sufficiently large to cause 3-5 orders of magnitude change in the SiO2 viscosity
Relaxation time becomes sufficiently short to allow deformation during the time of growth
MD simulation
Feng Liu, et al., Nature 416, 498 (2002), PRL 89, (2002)