Influence of an interfacial AlxIn1-xSb layer on the strain relaxation and surface morphology of thin GaSb layers epitaxially grown on GaAs(001)

Abstract

This work focuses on the strain relaxation and surface morphology of 10 ML thick GaSb layers on GaAs. It is shown that full relaxation is never reached for this thickness. The use of an AlSb interfacial layer only slightly improves strain relaxation but greatly reduces surface roughness. Finally, first results are reported using an AlxIn1-xSb interfacial layer which allows reaching 100% relaxation. However, this implies to lower the growth temperature around 450C in order to avoid excessive surface roughning. Further reduction of the growth temperature leads to the development of a strong relaxation anisotropy