Congruent evaporation temperature of GaAs(001) controlled by As flux

Journal Article · Mon Sep 20 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3491552· OSTI ID:21466928

Zhou, Z Y; Zheng, C X; Tang, W X; Jesson, D E ^[1]; Tersoff, J ^[2]

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1. School of Physics, Monash University, Victoria 3800 (Australia)
2. IBM Research Division, Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598 (United States)

The congruent evaporation temperature T{sub c} is a fundamental surface characteristic of GaAs and similar compounds. Above T{sub c} the rate of As evaporation exceeds that of Ga during Langmuir (free) evaporation into a vacuum. However, during molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) there is generally an external As flux F incident on the surface. Here we show that this flux directly controls T{sub c}. We introduce a sensitive approach to measure T{sub c} based on Ga droplet stability, and determine the dependence of T{sub c} on F. This dependence is explained by a simple model for evaporation in the presence of external flux. The capability of manipulating T{sub c} via changing F offers a means of controlling congruent evaporation with relevance to MBE, surface preparation methods, and droplet epitaxy.

• OSTI ID: 21466928
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 97, Issue 12; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3491552; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ARSENIC
CRYSTAL GROWTH
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DROPLETS
EVAPORATION
GALLIUM
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY
PHASE STABILITY
SURFACES
ARSENIC COMPOUNDS
ARSENIDES
CRYSTAL GROWTH METHODS
ELEMENTS
EPITAXY
GALLIUM COMPOUNDS
METALS
PARTICLES
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PNICTIDES
SEMIMETALS
STABILITY