Atomic scale morphology of thin GaNAs films: Effects of nitrogen content and growth temperature

Journal Article · Mon Oct 31 04:00:00 EST 2005 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2120917· OSTI ID:20706404

McGee, W M; Bone, P A; Williams, R S; Jones, T S ^[1]

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1. Center for Electronic Materials and Devices, Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom)

The surface morphology of 8 nm GaNAs layers grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on GaAs(001) substrates has been studied as a function of nitrogen content and growth temperature using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Increasing the nitrogen content from 0%-3% leads to a pronounced increase in surface roughness, caused by the appearance of deep pits. Raising the growth temperature from 400-500 deg. C produces the same effect. We propose that pit formation is symptomatic of phase segregation. STM images show that the GaNAs layers adopt an (nx3) surface reconstruction, suggesting that a disproportionately high concentration of N is present on the postgrowth surface compared with that incorporated into the layer during growth.

• OSTI ID: 20706404
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 18 Vol. 87; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CRYSTAL GROWTH
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
LAYERS
MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY
MORPHOLOGY
NITROGEN
ROUGHNESS
SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPY
SEGREGATION
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SUBSTRATES
THIN FILMS