Scanning tunneling microscopy investigation of GaP MBE growth on nominal and vicinal Si(001) substrates for optoelectronic applications
Résumé
We present a detailed scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) study of GaP(001) MBE growth on nominal and vicinal Si(001) substrates. Antiphase domains and antiphase boundaries (APBs) are observed with atomic resolution. APBs annihilation is promoted on vicinal substrates. The use of Si(001) vicinal substrates also induces major modification of the growth front morphology (roughness, antiphase domain size and shape, terminal facets) from the early deposition stages, up to thick GaP layers. This study gives new and valuable hints on APBs annihilation mechanisms.