Heteroepitaxial growth of quantum wire arrays through prepatterning substrate surfaces

The present work uses three-dimensional computer simulations to investigate the formation of regularly distributed quantum wire arrays via heteroepitaxial growth on prepatterned substrate surfaces. It is found that the propagation of a wavelike surface configuration due to the surface mass diffusion driven by the nonuniform stress distribution dictates the formed wire morphology. Several types of quantum wire arrays can be obtained by controlling growth and prepattern parameters. The formation of these ordered surface structures can be explained by the wavelike propagation of the surface configurations and the evolution of the surface chemical potential during growth.