Surface X-ray diffraction was used in situ to measure the GaSb(001)-(1 x 5) and (1 x 3) surface phases under technologically relevant growth conditions. Measurements were made of a large set of fractional-order in-plane diffraction peaks arising from the superstructure of the surface reconstruction. From the data were calculated two-dimensional Patterson functions, the peaks of which represent interatomic distances weighted by the number of electrons in the individual atoms. For the (1 x 3) phase good agreement was obtained between these data and the β(4 x 3) model proposed in experimental and theoretical work. The measurements of the Sb-rich (1 x 5) phase provide evidence that the structure under growth conditions is, in fact, different from that of the models previously suggested on the basis of scanning tunnelling microscopy. The reasons for this discrepancy were considered as well as the identified structural elements for these reconstructions, which include surface relaxations and sub-surface rearrangement.

GaSb(001) Surface Reconstructions Measured at the Growth Front by Surface X-Ray Diffraction. B.P.Tinkham, O.Romanyuk, W.Braun, K.H.Ploog, F.Grosse, M.Takahasi, T.Kaizu, J.Mizuki: Journal of Electronic Materials, 2008, 37[12], 1793-8