Thermodynamic analysis of the growth of GaAsN ternary compounds by molecular beam epitaxy

A thermodynamic model describing the growth of GaAsN ternary solid solutions is presented. The model is able to predict the nitrogen content of GaAsN layers in relation to external parameters (flow rate of molecular nitrogen, arsenic flux, growth rate, and substrate temperature). The proposed model accounts for experimental observations such as the leveling-off dependence of the composition on the rate of the external flow of nitrogen, the existence of a plateau in the temperature dependence of the composition, and luminescence peak broadening with respect to the ideal case.