Reentrant Layer-by-Layer Etching of GaAs(001)

We report the first observation of reentrant layer-by-layer etching based on in situ reflection high-energy electron-diffraction measurements. With ${\mathrm{AsBr}}_3$ used to etch GaAs(001), sustained specular-beam intensity oscillations are seen at high substrate temperatures, a decaying intensity with no oscillations at intermediate temperatures, but oscillations reappearing at still lower temperatures. Simulations of an atomistic model for the etching kinetics reproduce the temperature ranges of these three regimes and support an interpretation of the origin of this phenomenon as the site selectivity of the etching process combined with activation barriers to interlayer adatom migration.