Processing effects on the morphological stability at epitaxial interfaces

A phenomenological framework has been developed to account for interfacial instabilities during epitaxial growth. It is proposed that these instabilities are influenced by surface phenomena, through modification of surface free energy of the substrate by the first monolayers of the depositing element. Instabilities occuring in the CoSi₂/Si system are considered as an example. Specifically, Gjostein's (1963) treatment of surface instabilities caused by an adsorbing gas is applied here, and instability criteria are derived in terms of the Herring construction (Herring, 1951).