A universal mechanism to describe the III-V on Si growth by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

In this work, we experimentally and theoretically clarify the III-V/Si crystal growth processes. Atomically-resolved microscopy shows that mono-domain 3D islands are observed at theearly stages of AlSb, AlN and GaP molecular beam epitaxy on Si, independently of strain. It is also shown that complete III-V/Si wetting cannot be achieved in most III-V/Si systems, this conclusion being reinforced when pretreatment of the Si surface is performed. Surface/interface contributions to the free energy changes are found to be prominent over strain relief processes. We finally propose a universal description of III-V/Si growth processes, including the description of antiphase boundaries formation.