Effect of Atomic Hydrogen on GaAs Growth on GaAs(311)A Substrate in Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Abstract

The uniform corrugated structures along [1\overline12] direction have been found in the GaAs layers grown on GaAs (311)A substrates by atomic hydrogen-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (H-MBE). On the other hand, no corrugated structures were observed in the growth by conventional MBE. The differences in the surface morphology between H-MBE and conventional MBE samples were analyzed by using an atomic force microscope. In H-MBE, atomic H was continuously supplied during the growth, and hence the dangling bonds on the surface would be terminated by the H atoms. Thus, the [1\overline12] azimuth-oriented corrugations observed in H-MBE samples is thought to be due to the presence and interation of atomic H with the migrating Ga atoms, and preference of growth along the the steps where Ga atoms are terminated by H atoms.