The evolution of the surface morphology and reconstruction during growth by molecular beam epitaxy of InAs on the GaAs(001)-(2 x 4) surface was studied using rapid-quench scanning tunnelling microscopy. At a growth temperature of 500C and with an As2:In flux ratio of 2:1 (growth rate 0.068ML/s), the two-dimensional islands formed at sub-monolayer coverages exhibited an In-terminated locally (3 x 1) reconstruction, in contrast to the (2 x 4) reconstruction of islands grown at higher flux ratios. The island size distributions exhibited scaling behaviour for all flux ratios, which also matches the scaling form for GaAs homo-epitaxy on the (2 x 4) surface. Deposition of more than 1ML InAs results in the formation of a disordered and alloyed wetting layer whose characteristics were independent of the flux ratio and which exhibited a (1 x 3) reconstruction. The role of hetero-epitaxial strain in these changes was discussed.

Surface Morphology and Reconstruction Changes during Heteroepitaxial Growth of InAs on GaAs(001)-(2 x 4). T.J.Krzyzewski, P.B.Joyce, G.R.Bell, T.S.Jones: Surface Science, 2001, 482-485[2], 891-7