Surface segregation and strain relaxation processes in layer-by-layer growing InxGa1-xAs films on the GaAs(001) and GaAs(111)A substrates were studied. While the lattice strain was almost relaxed by introducing misfit dislocations on the (111)A substrate, the in-plane lattice constant of the growing film on the (001) substrate hardly changes throughout the growth. It was found that a significant amount of In atoms was segregated to the growing surface on the (001) substrate, which was induced by the lattice strain at the coherent (001) interface.

Strain-Induced Surface Segregation in In0.5Ga0.5As/GaAs Heteroepitaxy. A.Ohtake, M.Ozeki, M.Terauchi, F.Sato, M.Tanaka: Applied Physics Letters, 2002, 80[21], 3931-3