Use of Raman spectroscopy to characterize strain in III--V epilayers: Application to InAs on GaAs(001) grown by molecular-beam epitaxy

Journal Article · Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1989 · J. Vac. Sci. Technol., B; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.584752· OSTI ID:6150279

Diebold, A C; Steinhauser, S W; Mariella, Jr, R P

Strain in thin layers of molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) grown InAs on GaAs(001) was characterized by both Raman spectroscopy and double crystal x-ray diffraction (DCD). The goal of this study was to evaluate the use of Raman spectroscopy as a method of strain determination and compare it to DCD. Recent results of Burns et al., for In/sub x/Ga/sub 1-//sub x/As proved that Raman spectroscopy could be an important in situ analysis method for MBE (G. Burns, C. R. Wie, F. H. Dacol, G. D. Pettit, Appl. Phys. Lett. 51, 1919 (1987)). We find that Raman spectroscopy has several advantages over DCD. Raman data samples the stress in a much thinner volume than DCD, allowing one to determine when a surface layer of the thin film is no longer under stress. Films that are highly lattice mismatched with the substrate have a large number of defects at the substrate/epilayer interface. Raman analysis determines straain in a more defect free layer of these films when the layer thickness is greater than t/sub c/, the critical thickness. DCD samples an average strain over the entire thickness of most semiconductor films. There are several disadvantages in the use of Raman spectroscopy as a strain analysis method. We found that the materials parameters of InAs required to calculate the strain from the shift in the optical phonon energy of the epilayer were not accurately known. Quantitative strain determination by Raman spectroscopy depends on accurate values of the phonon deformation potentials of InAs and other III--V compounds of interest. Also, DCD is capable of determining much smaller strains than Raman spectroscopy.

• Research Organization: Allied-Signal, Inc., Electronic Materials and Devices Laboratory, Morristown, 07960 New Jersey
• OSTI ID: 6150279
• Journal Information: J. Vac. Sci. Technol., B; (United States), Vol. 7:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
COATINGS
INDIUM ARSENIDES
CRYSTAL GROWTH
MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY
STRAINS
MEASURING METHODS
CRYSTAL FACES
FILMS
HETEROJUNCTIONS
LATTICE PARAMETERS
LAYERS
RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY
SUBSTRATES
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
ARSENIC COMPOUNDS
ARSENIDES
COHERENT SCATTERING
DIFFRACTION
EPITAXY
GALLIUM COMPOUNDS
INDIUM COMPOUNDS
JUNCTIONS
LASER SPECTROSCOPY
PNICTIDES
SCATTERING
SEMICONDUCTOR JUNCTIONS
SPECTROSCOPY
360603* - Materials- Properties