Surface topography changes during the growth of GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy

摘要

Changes in surface roughness taking place during (001)thinsp;GaAs molecular beam epitaxy growth have been studiedinsituusing laser light scattering andexsituusing atomic force microscopy (AFM). Substantial increases in light scattering are found to occur firstly during oxide thermal desorption, associated with surface pit formation, and secondly during continued layer growth, due to the buildup of atomic step arrays. Monolayer height GaAs steps are readily resolved using AFM in air.