Faceted surface morphologies of homo-epitaxial films grown on exactly (¯1¯1¯1)-oriented GaAs substrates in the √19 x √19 regime were studied with an atomic force microscope. The facets were composed of three vicinal surfaces tilted about 2° toward [2¯1¯1], [¯12¯1], and [¯1¯12] directions, respectively. The diffusion length at the growth condition was estimated from the surface morphologies and found to be at least hundreds of nanometers. It was comparable to the diffusion length on the (100) surface grown under the same conditions. Therefore, the facet formation on GaAs (¯1¯1¯1) film was unlikely caused by slower surface mobility.

Diffusion Length of Ga Adatoms on GaAs (¯1¯1¯1) Surface in the √19 x √19 Reconstruction Growth Regime. K.Yang, L.J.Schowalter, T.Thundat: Applied Physics Letters, 1994, 64[13], 1641