Ordered arrays of arsenic clusters coincided with InAs GaAs superlattices grown by low-temperature MBE

Chaldyshev, V. V., Faleev, N. N., Bert, N. A., Musikhin, Y. G., Kunitsyn, A. E., Preobrazhenskii, V. V., Putyato, M. A., Semyagin, B. R. and Werner, P.

Journal of Crystal Growth 202, pp 260-262 (1999)

The InAs/GaAs superlattices with up to 30 periods were grown by molecular-beam epitaxy at 200 degrees C. The thickness of the GaAs layers was varied from 20 to 60 nm. The nominal thick ness of the InAs layers was either 1 or 0.5 monolayers. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy study revealed indium containing layer to be as thick as 4 monolayer in both cases. This was attributed to the roughness of the growth surface at the low substrate temperature. The concentration of As antisite defects in the as-grown samples was evaluated as (0.5-2) x 10(20) cm(-3). In spite of such a high concentration of point defects, the X-ray rocking curves were found to be very close to theoretical ones with a large number of interference patterns originated from periodical structure. Upon annealing the excess arsenic precipitated at the InAs delta-layers and in between them. Appropriate annealing conditions were found which allow us to dissolve the clusters in the GaAs spacers and accumulate the majority of clusters in two-dimensional sheets. As a result, artificially ordered superlattices of As cluster sheets were produced. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. [References: 9]

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