skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Far-infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy of amorphous and polycrystalline gallium arsenide films

Miscellaneous ·
OSTI ID:114806

We have reported far-infrared reflection absorption spectra (30-320CM{sup -1}) at 30 and 310K for nine films of non-stoichiometric GaAs. The FIRRAS measurements were performed using the grazing incidence FIR double-modulation spectroscopy technique first described by DaCosta and Coleman. The films were fabricated by molecular beam deposition on metallized substrates for two As/Ga molecular beam flux ratios. The films were characterized by depth profilometry, IRAS, XRD, and x-ray microprobe analysis. Film thicknesses ranged from 800 to 5800{angstrom} and compositions were 45-50% As for a MB flux ratio of 0.29 and 60-70% As for a ratio of 1.12. FIRRAS measurements were made and characterizations performed for as-deposited films and for 5 hour anneals at 473, 573, 673 and 723{degrees}C. Vibrational spectra of the crystallized films were interpreted in terms of the exact reflectivity of a thin dielectric film on a conducting substrate, using a classical Lorentzian dielectric function for the response of the film. Resonances appearing in the {open_quote}forbidden{close_quote} region between the TO and LO frequencies were modelled with an effective medium approximation and are interpreted as arising from small-scale surface roughness. The behavior of the amorphous film spectra were examined within two models. The effective force constant model describes the variation of the reflection-absorption maxima with measured crystallite size in terms of the effective vibration frequency of 1-D atomic chains having force constants distributed according to the parameters of the crystalline-to-amorphous relaxation length and the crystalline to amorphous force constant ratio. The dielectric function continuum model uses the relaxation of the crystal momentum selection rule to calculate the reflection-absorption spectrum based on a dielectric function in which the oscillator strength is the normalized product of a constant dipole strength and the smoothed vibrational density of states.

Research Organization:
California Univ., Davis, CA (United States)
OSTI ID:
114806
Resource Relation:
Other Information: TH: Thesis (Ph.D.); PBD: 1992
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English