The origin of a highly resistive layer at a growth-interrupted interface of GaAs grown by molecular-beam epitaxy

The origin of the formation of a highly resistive layer around a growth-interrupted interface in GaAs has been studied by capacitance-voltage carrier profiling and deep-level transient spectroscopy. It is concluded that the origin of the highly resistive layer is attributable to the formation of interface states created by exposure of the GaAs surface to air. The Fermi level at the interface is pinned in n-type GaAs, but is not in p-type GaAs.