Effects of surface reconstruction on III–V semiconductor interface formation: The role of III/V composition

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Abstract
Using molecular-beam epitaxy and in situ scanning tunneling microscopy, we demonstrate how different reconstructions associated with different III–V growth surfaces can create interfacial roughness, and that an understanding of this phenomenon can be used to control the roughness on the atomic scale. Specifically, the different compositions of a clean InAs(001)-(2×4) surface (V/III=0.5 ML/0.75 ML) and an Sb-terminated one (∼1.7 ML/1 ML) cause the InSb-like interfacial surface to have a bilevel morphology. This surface roughness can be eliminated by depositing additional In to exactly compensate for the difference. It is likely that similar types of roughness occur in all heterostructures where the growth surface reconstruction changes at the interfaces, and that a similar procedure will be equally effective at reducing that roughness.