Spatial variations in the growth rate on mesa-etched GaAs (¯1¯1¯1)B substrates during the molecular beam epitaxy of GaAs were deduced from the period of reflection high-energy electron diffraction intensity oscillations by using in situ scanning microprobe methods. The surface diffusion length of Ga adatoms on the (¯1¯1¯1)B surface was deduced from the spatial variation in the growth rate. The surface diffusion length on the (¯1¯1¯1)B surface increased as the substrate temperature was increased or the As pressure was decreased. A typical value of the diffusion length was about 10, at a substrate temperature of 580C and an As pressure of 5.7 x 10-4Pa. This was an order of magnitude larger than that on the (100) surface, in the [011] direction. The activation energy of the surface diffusion length changed with surface reconstruction. Anisotropic diffusion, which had been reported for the (100) surface, was not observed on the (¯1¯1¯1)B surface.

Y.Nomura, Y.Morishita, S.Goto, Y.Katayama, T.Isu: Applied Physics Letters, 1994, 64[9], 1123-5