Initial decomposition of GaAs during rapid thermal annealing

Abstract
A technique has been developed for direct, quantitative measurement of the amount of Ga and As evaporated from uncapped GaAs surfaces during rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The method involves collection of the evaporated molecules on a nearby copper film, followed by compositional analysis of the copper film using 5 MeV Rutherford backscattering. We have measured the rates of evaporation from uncapped GaAs surfaces during RTA in the temperature range 600–725 °C and found them to be in reasonable agreement with rates predicted from available measurements of the equilibrium vapor pressures of Ga and As.