title: Shaping Ge islands on Si(001) surfaces with misorientation angle.
abstract: A complete description of Ge growth on vicinal Si(001) surfaces in the angular miscut range 0 degrees -8 degrees is presented. The key role of substrate vicinality is clarified from the very early stages of Ge deposition up to the nucleation of 3D islands. By a systematic scanning tunneling microscopy investigation we are able to explain the competition between step-flow growth and 2D nucleation and the progressive elongation of the 3D islands along the miscut direction [110]. Using finite element calculations, we find a strict correlation between the morphological evolution and the energetic factors which govern the {105} faceting at atomic scale.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica,1-00133 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Persichetti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sgarlata
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fanfoni
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Balzarotti