Heterostructures and nanostructures of III-V semiconductors for new electonic nad photonic applications

Pore formation in III-V semiconductors was reviewed in several recent papers [1-4]. On the other hand, applications of porous substrates in epitaxial growth have not been thoroughly investigated so far. Significant development in defect density reduction in semiconductor materials was achieved using epitaxial lateral overgrowth techniques [5]. Recently, semiconductor epitaxial growth has progressed to pseudomorphic, lattice mismatched systems where a small amount of strain is accommodated in very thin layers [6]. Another approach extending the critical layer thickness in highly mismatched heterostructures is nanoheteroepitaxy [7]. Nanoheteroepitaxy exploits the three-dimensional stress relief mechanisms that are available in nanoscale objects and applies this property to reduce the strain energy in lattice mismatched heterojunctions. We believe that porous substrates can be helpful in extending the critical layer thickness in highly mismatched heterostructures combining the nanoheteroepitaxial growth on a patterned substrate and the substrate compliance.