Final Remarks

The simulation we outline in this proposal would, if successful, allow us to reproduce and extend the results obtained experimentally by Moison et at [15,38,39] regarding MBE growth of QDs of on the surface of . It would also allow us to confirm that the theoretical picture that we have of what happens during the evolution of this system is correct. The increased manipulation and visualization power that computational simulations provide allow us to overcome the observation difficulties posed by the experimental imaging techniques. With a realistic simulation we can observe in real time the evolution of the growth surface. This, in turn, would allow us to improve our understanding of the way in which the transition between and growth occurs at and how the coalescence occurs at . It would also clarify the role of the different factors that are present in the growth of QD by MBE and how we can control them to better suit our purposes.

The simulation developed for this particular physical system can easily be adjusted and extended to be applicable to other systems of interest as well. To accomplish this we would just need to change the experimental physical parameters used and, possibly, the lattice geometry used. Also, the kind of better understanding about this system that can only be provided by a simulation can be directly applicable to other systems as well, and would, therefore, have significant technological and scientific implications.

On the other hand, even if this simulation is not successful and, despite all our efforts, it provides results that are incongruent with the physical reality we would have learned that we still don't understand what are the main physical factors involved in epitaxial growth. As such, either successful or unsuccessful, a complete simulation that is coherent with the current physical arguments would allows us to confirm, or suggest corrections to the physics we believe is responsible for the experimental results that have been obtained.