RHEED Studies of GaAs Surface Structure

Abstract

Rocking-curve analysis of reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) based on dynamical diffraction theory is a powerful method to study atomic structures of solid surfaces. Also, the grazing-angle geometry of the RHEED elec-tron gun makes itself suitable for in-situ monitoring of molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE). This is of great advantage in evaluating the real surface structure of GaAs using RHEED rocking-curve analysis, because the experimental data can be analyzed without considering the effect of the adsorption andor desorption of As, which might occur while the sam-ple is transferred from an MBE chamber. This paper briefly reviews recent RHEED studies on the atomic structures of GaAs(001) surfaces. Results for the As-stabilized c(44) and Ga-stabilized c(82) surfaces, and the adsorption struc-ture of Zn on the (24) surface are presented.