Anisotropy of thermal expansion of GaAs on Si(001)

Abstract

We have measured the thermal expansion between 20 and 450 °C of epitaxially grown GaAs thin films on Si(001) as well as of the Si substrate by means of high-resolution x-ray scattering. Our results show that the thermal expansion of GaAs in the direction parallel to the film plane follows the thermal expansion of the silicon substrate and is therefore smaller than in bulk GaAs. Furthermore, the thermal expansion perpendicular to the film plane (parallel to the growth direction) exceeds the bulk GaAs value by the Poisson contribution as a result of the in-plane constraint. The thermal expansion coefficients for GaAs films on Si(001) substrates in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the film plane are αT∥(GaAs) =3.46×10−6/K and αT⊥(GaAs) =8.91×10−6/K, respectively.