Deformation potentials of Si-doped GaAs from microscopic residual stress fields

Abstract

Underlying physics has been put forward and an experimental verification given for in situ determination of deformation potentials in Si-doped GaAs through a quantitative assessment of micro-/nanoscopic surface stress fields. Highly localized spectroscopic stress assessments could be achieved using a field emission scanning electron microscope as an energy source for stimulating cathodoluminescence emission from a Si-doped GaAs wafer. The deformation potentials were obtained from the local (elastic) residual strain fields stored in the neighborhood of an indentation print. The three independent GaAs deformation potentials could be obtained from a single measurement set and from mixed strain fields including tensile and compressive strains, while all the previously published characterizations were made in compression and on different samples. For these reasons, the deformation potentials determined in this study may prove more reliable and valid in a wider strain range as compared to those from previously published study. The proposed experimental method is suitable for in situ assessments of epitaxially grown thin-film materials and other zinc-blende-like III-V semiconductor heterostructures and alloys.