SCHIFANI , Guido

The aim of this thesis is to theoretically study the coarsening dynamics of self-organized quantum dots. To this end, we derive the spatio-temporal evolution equation for a hetero-epitaxial system which takes into account surface diffusion, elastic effect, capillary effect and anisotropic effect, using the continuous mechanics framework. We...

International audience

We perform numerical simulations of hexagonal quantum dots of AlGaN semiconductors. We show that the competition between surface mass diffusion and evaporation rules the morphology of the quantum dots. The system displays three different behaviors: presence of separated islands without a wetting layer, islands dissolving into the wetting layer,...

We investigate the formation and the coarsening dynamics of islands in a strained epitaxial semiconductor film. These islands are commonly observed in thin films undergoing a morphological instability due to the presence of the elastocapillary effect. We first describe both analytically and numerically the formation of an equilibrium island...

We exhibit both experimentally and theoretically a novel growth mode for the epi-taxy of AlGaN quantum dots (QD), where they are eventually produced without their usual surrounding wetting layer. If the generic evolution of QD is ruled by the elastic relaxation and capillary effects, evaporation occurs here on a time scale similar to that of...