Digital model for X-ray diffraction with application to composition and strain determination in strained InAs/GaSb superlattices

Journal Article · Mon Jul 07 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4887078· OSTI ID:22306165

Meng, Yifei; Kim, Honggyu; Zuo, Jian-Min ^[1]; Rouviére, Jean-Luc ^[2]; Isheim, Dieter; Seidman, David N. ^[3]

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1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (United States)
2. CEA/INAC/SP2M/LEMMA, 19 rue des Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble (France)
3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208 (United States)

We propose a digital model for high quality superlattices by including fluctuations in the superlattice periods. The composition and strain profiles are assumed to be coherent and persist throughout the superlattice. Using this model, we have significantly improved the fit with experimental X-ray diffraction data recorded from the nominal InAs/GaSb superlattice. The lattice spacing of individual layers inside the superlattice and the extent of interfacial intermixing are refined by including both (002) and (004) and their satellite peaks in the fitting. For the InAs/GaSb strained layer superlattice, results show: (i) the GaSb-on-InAs interface is chemically sharper than the InAs-on-GaSb interface, (ii) the GaSb layers experience compressive strain with In incorporation, (iii) there are interfacial strain associated with InSb-like bonds in GaSb and GaAs-like bonds in InAs, (iv) Sb substitutes a significant amount of In inside InAs layer near the InAs-on-GaSb interface. For support, we show that the composition profiles determined by X-ray diffraction are in good agreement with those obtained from atom probe tomography measurement. Comparison with the kinetic growth model shows a good agreement in terms of the composition profiles of anions, while the kinetic model underestimates the intermixing of cations.

• OSTI ID: 22306165
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 116; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ANIONS
CATIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CRYSTAL GROWTH
FLUCTUATIONS
GALLIUM ANTIMONIDES
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
INDIUM ANTIMONIDES
INDIUM ARSENIDES
INTERFACES
LAYERS
STRAINS
SUPERLATTICES
TOMOGRAPHY
X-RAY DIFFRACTION