Is it possible to use external stress to tune silicon surface morphology?

Our goal was to check if an external mechanical stress can be used to control the morphology of a Si surface. We show that: (1) due to plastic relaxation, a mechanical stress does not allow destabilization of a flat silicon surface by means of the Asaro–Tiller–Grinfeld mechanism; (2) the faceting period of vicinal Si surfaces destabilized by electromigration is not influenced by mechanical stresses but becomes more defective; (3) anisotropic surface reconstructions can be modified by a mechanical stress whereas isotropic surfaces seem to be less sensitive.