A pragmatic approach to adatom-induced surface reconstruction of III-V compounds

Al, Ga, and In arsenides and antimonides and Al phosphide show different reconstructions for group V and group III-terminated surfaces, whereas Ga and In III phosphides typically have one dominant reconstruction. This paper reports congruent sublimation temperature Tcs determination for GaAs, InAs, the ternary AlInAs and GaInAs alloys, and AlSb and GaSb. The dominance of ‘‘phosphorus stabilized’’ (2×4) and c(2×8) reconstructions has so far inhibited us from determining Tcs for group III phosphides from RED observations. Tcs for AlAs was not found below 860 °C. Coverage of heat-cleaned substrates with a few monolayers of group III atoms at elevated temperatures prior to growth improves the surface topography to that of grown films.