Formation of laterally propagating supersteps of InP/InGaAs on vicinal wafers

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Abstract
We propose and demonstrate a technique for artifically bunching the atomic steps on a vicinal substrate to form supersteps of almost arbitrary height. The process involves the etching of a grating of parallel grooves on the surface of a vicinal substrate followed by epitaxial growth that fills the grooves. Steps of height proportional to the period of the grating and the substrate misorientation angle are formed. The technique is demonstrated on a macroscopic scale for the InP/InGaAs material system using chloride transport vapor levitation epitaxy, resulting in InGaAs wire-like structures confined both horizontally and vertically by InP. The growth of quantum wires and laterally periodic superlattices should be possible using this technique with proper scaling of parameters.