Periodic faceting on vicinal GaAs(110) surfaces during epitaxial growth

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Abstract
The formation and evolution of quasiperiodic microfacets on vicinal GaAs(110) surfaces grown by molecular beam epitaxy was investigated with transmission electron microscopy and modeled using Monte Carlo simulations. Layers of GaAs and (Al,Ga)As were grown on surfaces misoriented 0°–2° toward (010) (steps in the [001] direction). Under the growth conditions studied, the vicinal surfaces form quasiperiodic microfacets oriented along the step direction. The time evolution of the facet density and facet height as a function of vicinal angle indicate that the formation of microfacets is a result of kinetically limited step bunching during step-flow growth.