ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a method of measurement of the misfit stress by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis using plan view geometry. The elastic stress induced by a lattice mismatch between a thin epitaxial layer and a substrate is determined by the curvature method based on the Stoney approach and adapted to TEM measurements on thinned specimens. The variation of the curvature with the substrate thickness is clearly observed and fits well with the Stoney equation if a correction for the finite ratio of layer and substrate thicknesses is taken into account. All other samples examined exhibit similar behavior. The plane view specimens investigated by TEM are prepared by chemical etching of the substrate back side. This method has been chosen to limit the formation of an amorphous layer, which would be created by ion milling.
