Increase of electrical activation and mobility of Si-doped GaAs, grown at low substrate temperatures, by the migration-enhanced epitaxy method

Abstract

Si-doped GaAs layers were grown by the migration-enhanced epitaxy (MEE) method and by the conventional molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) method, for the substrate temperatures between 220 and 670 °C. For the layers grown below 400 °C, the Si activation and mobility of the MEE layers are significantly higher than those of the MBE layers. For substrate temperatures above 400 °C, the MEE and MBE layers have roughly similar Si activation and mobility. The Raman and 4-K photoluminescence spectra of the layers are consistent with the measured electron concentrations. This work suggests that for Si doping in GaAs at low substrate temperatures (below 400 °C), the MEE method is a very desirable alternative to the conventional MBE method.