Misfit dislocations in nanocomposites with quantum dots, nanowires and their ensembles

Abstract

We review theoretical concepts and experimental results on the physics of misfit dislocations in nanocomposite solids with quantum dots (QDs) and nanowires (quantum wires). Special attention is paid to thermodynamic theoretical models of formation of misfit dislocations in QDs and nanowires, including composite core–shell nanowires. The effects of misfit dislocations on the film growth mode during heteroepitaxy and phase transitions in QD systems are analysed. Experimental results and theoretical models of the ordered spatial arrangement of QDs growing on composite substrates with misfit dislocation networks are discussed. The influence of subsurface dislocations in composite substrates on the nucleation of QDs and nanowires on the substrate surface is considered. Models of misfit strain relaxation and dislocation formation in nanofilms on compliant substrates are also reviewed.

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank L. B. Freund, H. T. Johnson, H. J. Kim, A. L. Kolesnikova, H. Mariette, A. E. Romanov, K. Tillmann and J. Zou for kindly providing figures. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Office of US Naval Research (grant N00014-05-1-0217), INTAS (grant 03-51-3779), Russian Science Support Foundation, Federal Agency of Science and Innovations (grant of the President of the Russian Federation MK-8340.2006.1), and Russian Academy of Sciences Program ‘Structural Mechanics of Materials and Construction Elements’.