Localized lattice-mismatch-accomodation dislocation network epitaxy

A process for depositing a layer of a second crystallizable elemental semiconductor material on a target surface of a substantially-single-crystalline-portion of a first semiconductor material to produce a multi-atomic-layer, essentially-epitaxial layer of the second material on the first material, the first material and the second material respectively having structurally relaxed bulk-state crystal lattice structures which are mismatched from one another in at least one dimension, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) exposing the target surface of the first material to a vacuum;
• (b) directing a gaseous flux comprising a multivalent surfactant element onto the target surface to deposit the surfactant element on the target surface with a coverage of at least approximately one monolayer;
• (c) directing a gaseous flux comprising the second material onto the target surface bearing the multivalent surfactant element, the multivalent surfactant element facilitating a layer-by-layer epitaxial growth of the second material on the target surface of the first material, the gaseous flux comprising the second material being maintained for a time sufficient to grow an epitaxial layer of second material having a thickness effective to enable the crystal lattice structure of the second material to assume the structurally relaxed bulk-state crystal lattice structure of the second material, the lattice structure mismatch between the bulk-state crystal-lattice structures of the first and the second materials being accomodated in a lattice-mismatch accomodation layer essentially localized at the interface between the first and the second materials.