Interface-confined ordered compound formation : application to Si/Ge strained heterojunctions

We introduce a model for the study of the atomic structure of semiconductor interfaces which takes into account both strain and chemical energies. The two effects are generally in competition with each other for lattice mismatched heterostructures. According to the model, space-confined ordered intermixing, limited by enthalpy rather than diffusion, can occur at the interface in spite of bulk instability of the new phase