Island Nucleation and Growth on Reconstructed GaAs(001) Surfaces

Abstract

The initial stages of homoepitaxy on GaAs(001) are studied with atomic-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy and Monte Carlo simulations that include the zinc blende structure of GaAs, the (2 3 4) reconstruction of the (001) surface, and the kinetics of As 2 incorporation. The reconstruction is found to favor nucleation on the top-layer arsenic dimers and to cause small islands to be unstable until they adopt the local (2 3 4) structure. [S0031-9007(98)06564-8] 02.70.Lq, 61.16.Ch, 68.35.Fx Heterostructures composed of III-V semiconductors are central to meeting the expanding requirements of optoelectronics and mobile telecommunications. The performance of devices based on such structures, in turn, depends crucially on the ability to fabricate high-quality heterogeneous interfaces. However, the growth kinetics on III-V semiconductor surfaces are poorly understood at the atomistic level even for homoepitaxy. Thus, to provide a framework for understanding and controlling the formation of heterogeneous III-V interfaces, we report in this Letter a study of the initial stages of homoepitaxy on the most intensively studied III-V surface, GaAs(001).The GaAs(001) surface presents a particular challenge because of the presence, under normal (As-rich) growth conditions, of the As-terminated (2 3 4) reconstruction [1], which substantially modifies the three topmost atomic layers of the surface (Fig. 1). Although the energetics of static surface reconstructions on this surface have been studied at length [2,3], much less is known about how reconstructions affect the kinetics during epitaxial growth from molecular beams [4][5][6][7].Our study is based on the combined use of atomicresolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations that include the zinc blende structure of GaAs, the (2 3 4) reconstruction of GaAs(001), and the kinetics of As 2 incorporation. The situation with an As 4 source is substantially different and will be presented elsewhere. By working in the low-coverage regime and making systematic comparisons between measured and simulated island morphologies, we find that the (2 3 4) reconstruction influences the growth both by favoring particular sites for island nucleation and in determining the stability of small islands.The experiments were carried out in a combined ultra-high-vacuum STM (Omicron GmbH, Germany) and molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) system (DCA, Finland). Atomically clean GaAs(001)-(2 3 4) surfaces were prepared by standard methods using singular (to within 0.2 ± ) epiready substrates, which produced surfaces with terraces typically 1000 Å wide separated by 2.83 Å high Ga-As bilayer steps. These surfaces were held at 580 ± C in an As 2 flux of ͑2.5 6 1.0͒ 3 10 14 molecules cm 22 s 21 , after which Ga was codeposited at a rate of 0.1 monolayer (ML) s 21 (6 3 10 13 atoms cm 22 s 21 ) for no more than 1 s. The samples were then immediately transferred to the STM chamber and quenched to room temperature. The transfer process takes only a few seconds, and the sa...

Structure of III-Sb(001) Growth Surfaces: The Role of Heterodimers

“…1) has been generally established [4,5]. For the much-studied case of GaAs, the extensive experimental and theoretical knowledge accumulated about the surface structure has led to significant progress in understanding the atomistic mechanisms of growth during molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) [6,7]. In contrast, the III-Sb device surfaces are poorly understood, despite their demonstrated potential for a variety of advanced electronic and optoelectronic applications [8].…”

First-principles studies of kinetics in epitaxial growth of III-V semiconductors

“…In contrast, the atomistic growth model of Itoh and co-workers (Ref. [14], for a detailed description of this model see Ref. [16]) is based on parameters that are obtained by adjusting experimental and simulated island morphologies at a single growth temperature, 873 K. The information available from the DFT calculations motivated us to include several features in our simulations that were not considered previously: Most importantly, the incorporation of As 2 via an intermediate state where the arsenic molecule forms three bonds to the surface (rather than four) has not been considered before.…”

“…Both these two-component models restricted themselves to a simple cubic lattice. The aspect of surface reconstruction was not addressed until recently when Itoh et al [14] presented results of a more refined modeling including the interactions between surface As dimers, as well as the anisotropy of Ga diffusion on the reconstructed GaAs surface. Adopting suitable model parameters guided by experimental input from a detailed STM study, Itoh et al were able to simulate the morphology, the size and density of small islands in very good agreement with the experimental observations.…”

Kinetic model of II-VI(001) semiconductor surfaces: Growth rates in atomic layer epitaxy

“…More importantly, we will consider weakly bound excess Te, which provides a reservoir of highly mobile atoms. A similar approach with weakly bound arsenic has recently been suggested by Itoh et al 19,20 in order to describe the growth on reconstructed GaAs(001) and InAs(001) surfaces.…”