Substrate strain manipulation by nanostructure perimeter forces

Edge forces exerted by epitaxial nanostructures are shown to induce high levels of strain in the substrate. These very high localized forces appear at the perimeter and the resulting strain can be exploited to engineer the functional properties of the substrate. High levels of strain in a Si substrate are induced by SiGe nanostructures, starting from both top-down and bottom-up approaches. Compressive uniaxial strains of up to -0.7 are demonstrated. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.