Effect of growth rate on the surface morphology of MBE-grown GaAs(001)-(2 × 4)

• Published in: Surface science Vol. 302; no. 1; pp. L269 - L274
• Main Authors: Maboudian, R., Bressler-Hill, V., Pond, K., Wang, X.-S., Petroff, P.M., Weinberg, W.H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 20.01.1994; Amsterdam Elsevier Science; New York, NY
• Subjects: Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Electron, ion, and scanning probe microscopy; Exact sciences and technology; Physics; Scanning probe microscopy: scanning tunneling, atomic force, scanning optical, magnetic force, etc; Solid surfaces and solid-solid interfaces; Structure of solids and liquids; crystallography; Surface structure and topography; Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties); Gallium arsenides; Inorganic compounds; Semiconductor materials; Growth rate; Morphology; Molecular beam epitaxy; Surfaces; Deposition rate; Experimental study; STM; Surface structure
• ISSN: 0039-6028; 1879-2758
• DOI: 10.1016/0039-6028(94)91087-1

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) has been used to investigate the effect of the deposition rate on the resulting morphology of GaAs(001)-(2 × 4) surfaces grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Low deposition rates (0.2 microm/h) are found to create smooth surfaces and lead to anisotropic islanding with average length ratios of A steps to B steps which are measurably larger than those produced by standard deposition rates (0.7 microm/h). For each growth rate, the mean-square-height fluctuation function has been calculated in order to characterize the surface roughness observed with STM and the anisotropy associated with the roughness.