Influences of two-step growth and off-angle Ge substrate on crystalline quality of GaAs buffer layers grown by MOVPE

• GaAs was grown on off-angle Ge (001) by MOVPE using two-step growth.
• Self-annihilation of APDs was observed at GaAs/Ge.
• The use of 6°; off-angle substrate resulted in APD-free GaAs.

GaAs buffer layers were grown on off-angle Ge substrates with a two-step growth process by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy in order to prepare a high quality buffer layer for the InGaAsN p–i–n solar-cell structure. In our contribution, we present results from the optimized two-step growth of GaAs buffer layers, namely with a low-temperature step at 470 °C and a high-temperature step at 580 °C, combined with the use of Ge substrates misoriented by 4° and 6° towards [1 1 0]. HRXRD results showed that by using the off-angle substrates, the FWHM of (0 0 4) rocking curves was decreased to 6.7 sec, which is about 4 times the FWHM of the GaAs commercial substrate. A decreased FWHM indicates a narrower distribution of crystal orientation. Furthermore, a smooth surface with a RMS roughness of 0.7 nm was clearly observed by AFM. Cross-sectional dark-field TEM images showed the GaAs buffer layer with 20–30 nm diamond-shaped anti-phase domains (APDs) at the GaAs/Ge interface, followed by APDs-free GaAs regions on the 6° off-angle Ge substrate. However, anti-phase boundaries were generated along the [0 0 1] direction for the buffer layer on the on-axis substrate. Our results demonstrated that the use of 6° off-angle Ge substrate and a two-step growth process allow the suppression of APDs in the GaAs buffer layer.