Interfacial reactions between deposited indium and gallium metals with GaAs(001) substrates are discussed. After Knudsen cell molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) deposition, samples were annealed in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) and examined by ex situ electron microscopy. The resulting microstructure was compared to the microstructure of GaAs(001) substrates without metal deposition. It is shown that significant interactions occur between the deposited metal and substrate and that the final microstructure is consistent with the model for thermal decomposition of III-V compound semiconductor substrates
