Heterogeneous nucleation of dislocation loops under epitaxial strain

Heterogeneous nucleation of dislocation loops driven by high epitaxial strain describes a possible failure mode of multi-layer superlattice structures. The present paper furnishes a close form solution for the two-dimensional mechanics analysis. A three-dimensional BEM calculation facilitated by a singularity exclusion scheme is conducted for circular dislocation loops nucleated from a spherical void. The results show that the critical epitaxial strain necessary to nucleate a dislocation loop minimizes at an intermediate range of defect sizes.Sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.