Control method for periodically faceted surfaces and application on AlGaAs/GaAs (6 3 1) heterostructures

Abstract

Recently, the set of advantages of assembling quasi-one dimensional quantum wire heterostructures by molecular beam epitaxy over high-index orientations has been exhibited, including merging the benefits of both integer-dimension extremes while ruling out their flaws. Nonetheless, hitherto a shallow knowledge of their growth evolution has been barely gathered and thereupon a scarce design control could only be achieved. In this paper we impart a profound survey of the growth phenomena present on the GaAs (631) surface in addition of a method that enhances the reflection high-energy electron diffraction in situ characterization performed upon the mesoscopic periodic corrugation in the course of homoepitaxial growth by molecular beam epitaxy and for the first time in literature, during heteroepitaxy. The fundamentals of the unparalleled corrugation uniformity are expanded in terms of a novel perspective for the surface reconstruction and anisotropic diffusion process. Furthermore, an inverse Weissenberg-RHEED method is proposed to enhance the design control over the mesoscopic corrugation in situ, optimizing the production cycle of quasi-one dimensional QWRs and enabling a proper framework in pursuit for application into higher performance electro-optical devices.