Novel planar growth of highly strained heterostructure of InAs/GaAs(001) by molecular beam epitaxy was studied by an in situ scanning tunnelling microscope and reflection high-energy electron diffraction. It was found that deposition of sub-monolayer indium on the GaAs As-rich 2 x 4 substrate produces a new 4 x 2 reconstruction, and a novel layer-by-layer growth of multilayers of InAs could be achieved when the growing front displayed this 4 x 2 symmetry. The atomic structure of the 4 x 2 reconstruction was considered here; based upon voltage-dependent high-resolution scanning tunnelling microscopic images. In addition, a new strain relaxation mechanism - domain wall structure, was considered in terms of the present novel planar growth mode.

Surface Reconstruction and Morphology Evolution in Highly Strained InAs Epilayer Growth on GaAs(001) Surface. Q.Xue, T.Ogino, H.Kiyama, Y.Hasegawa, T.Sakurai: Journal of Crystal Growth, 1997, 175-176[1], 174-7