Title: Driving Ge Island Ordering on Nanostructured Si surfaces
Abstract: Semiconductor epitaxial nanostructures have been recently proposed as the key building blocks of many innovative applications in materials science and technology.To bring their tremendous potential to fruition, a fine control of nanostructure size and placement is necessary.We present a detailed investigation of the self-ordering process in the prototype case of Ge/Si heteroepitaxy.Starting from a bottom-up strategy (step-bunching instabilities), our analysis moves to lithographic techniques (scanning tunneling lithography, nanomechanical stamping, focused ion beam patterning) with the aim of developing a hybrid approach in which the exogenous intervention is specifically designed to suit and harness the natural self-organization dynamics of the system.