In situ studies of semiconductor growth by synchrotron X-ray diffraction

We study the molecular beam epitaxy growth of various III-V semiconductors using in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction. Despite their similarity in crystal structure, the surface kinetics of GaAs(0 0 1), InAs(0 0 1) and GaSb(0 0 1) differ strongly. GaAs shows an unexpectedly large coarsening exponent outside the predicted range of Ostwald ripening models during recovery. The results indicate that this exotic behavior is due to the surface kinetics on the atomic scale. GaSb exhibits dramatically different surface morphology variations during growth and recovery. Whereas adatoms created by deposition are very mobile, the detachment of adatoms from existing step edges during recovery is strongly inhibited. The nucleation seems to be unaffected by changes in the surface reconstruction.