The effect of concurrent Si and Zn diffusion, upon interdiffusion between the cation and anion sub-lattices, was studied in Ga0.95In0.05As0.95P0.05/GaAs heterostructures which had been grown by using liquid-phase epitaxy techniques. The diffusion sources were equilibrium ternary tie-triangle compositions. The extent of interdiffusion of both group-III and group-V atoms was determined by depth profiling In and P, respectively, using secondary ion mass spectrometry. It was found that Zn diffusion selectively enhanced cation (In, Ga) interdiffusion. A kick-out mechanism was used to explain the selective enhancement of cation interdiffusion by Zn. It was concluded that the impurity diffusion mechanism was a major factor which affected the degree of enhancement.

K.H.Lee, H.H.Park, D.A.Stevenson: Journal of Applied Physics, 1989, 65[3], 1048-52