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Strain Relaxation In Graded Ingaas And Inp Buffer Layers On Gaas (001), K. Eberl, K. Häusler, T. Shitara, Y. Kershaw, W. Sigle

Scanning Microscopy

We investigate compositionally graded In_xo≤x≤0.5Ga_1-xAs and InP buffer layers which are prepared by molecular beam epitaxy on (001) GaAs substrate. The initial In content x_o is equal to 0, 0.12, 0.18, 0.24, and 0.5 for the different samples. The In composition of the graded buffer increases linearly between x_o and 0.5 with a fixed slope of 50% In-content per μm. The idea was to combine the advantage of surface flatness in homogeneous buffer layers and the reduced density of threading dislocations on the surface for graded buffer layers. The best compromise in terms of …

Transmission Electron Microscopy, High Resolution X-Ray Diffraction And Rutherford Backscattering Study Of Strain Release In Ingaas/Gaas Buffer Layers, G. Salviati, L. Lazzarini, C. Ferrari, P. Franzosi, S. Milita, F. Romanato, M. Berti, M. Mazzer, A. V. Drigo, M. R. Bruni, M. G. Simeone, N. Gambacorti

Scanning Microscopy

Strain release and dislocation distribution in InGaAs/GaAs double heterostructures, step-graded and linear-graded buffer layers have been studied. A higher misfit dislocation density at the inner interface between the InGaAs layer and the substrate was found in all the samples. This corresponded to a strain release of the inner ternary layers much larger than predicted by equilibrium theories. The residual parallel strain of the external layers as a function of their thickness was found to follow a curve approximately of slope -0.5, in agreement with previous investigations on single InGaAs layers. This result has been interpreted as evidence that the elastic …

Dislocation Nucleation And Propagation In Semiconductor Heterostructures, D. Cherns, S. Mylonas, C. T. Chou, J. Wu, D. E. Ashenford, B. Lunn

Scanning Microscopy

This paper considers misfit dislocation nucleation and propagation in dilute magnetic semiconductor heterostructures in the CdTe-ZnTe-MnTe system. It is shown that, where the deposit is in tension, 1/2 < 110 > dislocations with inclined Burgers vectors propagate by glide along interfacial < 110 > directions and may dissociate giving intrinsic stacking faults. In cases where the deposit is in compression, 1/2 < 110 > dislocations show no evidence of dissociation and propagate by extensive cross-slip to give networks of dislocations close to interfacial < 100 > directions.

Evidence for dislocation sources in ZnTe/GaSb films is presented. ZnTe films contained stacking fault pyramids, single Frank faults and a new type of "diamond defect" …

Predicting Relaxation In Strained Epitaxial Layers, R. Beanland, D. J. Dunstan, P. J. Goodhew

Scanning Microscopy

Strained epitaxial semiconductor layers, much thicker than the critical thickness, have been used as "strain-relief" buffer layers for many years. The most successful structure developed so far dates back to the 1960's, and consists of a very thick ( ~30 μm) layer in which the misfit is gradually and continuously increased. These structures relax completely and have a sufficiently low threading dislocation density to allow a device structure to be grown on top. This process requires a very high growth rate to produce the buffer layer in a reasonable time, which is only provided by hydride vapourphase epitaxy. Recently, there …