Strain, size and composition of InAs quantum sticks, embedded in InP, determined via X-ray anomalous diffraction and diffraction anomalous fine structure in grazing incidence

Abstract

We report on the study of strain, size and composition of small-size encapsulated semiconductor nanostructures. We show that the partial structure factor of As atoms in InAs stick-like nanostructures (quantum sticks), embedded in InP, can be directly extracted from grazing incidence anomalous X-ray diffraction maps at the As K-edge. We have recovered the average height and strain of the islands and determined their composition. The average height of the quantum sticks (QSs), as deduced from the width of the structure factor profile is 2.54 nm. The InAs out of plane deformation, relative to InP, is equal to 6.1%. Fixed-Q anomalous diffraction spectra, measured at the As K-edge, in grazing incidence provide clear evidence of pure InAs QSs. This is confirmed by the analysis of the diffraction anomalous fine structure (DAFS) that also gives a direct way to recover the strain accomodation inside the quantum sticks. Finite difference method calculations reproduce well the diffraction data. Chemical mixing at interfaces is at most 1 ML. This paper shows that ultimate application of anomalous diffraction and DAFS together with reciprocal space maps is a powerful method to sudy the structural properties of nanostructures.