Application of ‘‘critical compositional difference’’ concept to the growth of low dislocation density (xGa1−xAs (x≤0.5) on GaAs

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Abstract
Multilayer epitaxial structures consisting of InxGa1−xAs layers of various compositions were grown on GaAs substrates by the molecular beam epitaxy technique. Dislocation evolution and residual strain in these heterostructures were studied using cross‐sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) and high‐resolution x‐ray diffraction analyses, respectively. The multilayer heterostructures were designed such that the compositional difference between two adjacent InxGa1−xAs layers in the stack was less than a critical compositional difference of Δx=0.18, taking partial lattice‐relaxation into account. XTEM studies of the stacked structures indicated dislocation evolution to be confined to the GaAs substrate and the InxGa1−xAs layers underlying the top InxGa1−xAs layer in the stack, the top InxGa1−xAs layer being essentially dislocation‐free. This phenomenon is attributed to a monotonic increase in the yield strength of InxGa1−xAs at the appropriate growth temperatures with increasing values of x. Such behavior appears to persist up to an InxGa1−xAs composition of approximately x=0.5, whereupon a further increase in composition results in dislocation evolution in the top layer of the stack. It is postulated that the yield strength of InxGa1−xAs decreases with increasing values of x beyond x=0.5. Extremely low dislocation density InxGa1−xAs material was grown on GaAs using the stacked structure approach as evidenced by etch pit analysis. For example, dislocation densities of 1–2×103/cm2 and 5–6×103/cm2 were recorded from In0.35Ga0.65As and In0.48Ga0.52As top layers, respectively. Such InxGa1−xAs alloys would be potentially suitable for the fabrication of photonic devices operating at 1.3 μm (x=0.35) and 1.55 μm (x=0.48).