Spatial ordering of islands grown on patterned surfaces

We demonstrate that growth on a sample patterned with an ordered defect array can lead to islands with rather narrow size distribution. However, improvement in the size distribution is achieved only if the growth conditions (flux and temperature) have optimal values, determined by the patterning length scale. Since the scanning tunelling and the atomic force microscopes are capable of inducing surface perturbations that act as potential preferential nucleation sites, our work demonstrates that nanoscale surface patterning can improve the ordering of platelets and self-assembled quantum dots. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(98)03444-5]