Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-12-2014

Publication Title

Physica Scripta

Abstract

While it is well known that growth conditions such as temperature greatly affect defect incorporation in thin films, less is known about the direct effects of the surface reconstruction. In this work, we examine the effect of the initial surface reconstruction on defect incorporation in GaSb/GaAs(001) lattice mismatched films. The stress built up in GaSb films grown on As-terminated and Sb-terminated GaAs was monitored during film growth and shows that the total relaxation is similar in both films along the [110], but lower on the Sb-terminated surface along the . These differences can be understood by examining the ability for the two surface terminations to accommodate strain. The resulting films show that the density of 3D islands is lower for the Sb-terminated surfaces, and that lattice mismatch strain is further accommodated by a 5° tilt. In contrast, the As-terminated surface contains both stacking faults and misfit dislocations. These results demonstrate the possibility to engineer specific defects into films by controlling the starting surface of film growth.

Comments

We also acknowledge funding from DOE/BES (ER46172). JMM gratefully acknowledge Chakrapani Varanasi and the support of the Department of Defense, Army Research Office via the Grant No. W911NF-12-1-0338.

DOI

10.1088/0031-8949/89/7/075707

Version

Postprint

Volume

89

Issue

7

Included in

Physics Commons

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