Structural and optical study of indium and gallium arsenide nanostructures prepared by magnetron sputtering

Abstract

Currently, the obtention of nano-structures based on III-V materials is expensive. This calls for novel and inexpensive nanostructure manufacturing approaches. In this work we report on the manufacture of a nanostructures consisting of alternating layers of In and GaAs on a Si substrate by magnetron sputtering. Furthermore, we characterized the produced nanostructures using secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), X-ray diffraction analysis, and Raman spectroscopy. SIMS revealed variation in the concentration of In atoms across In/GaAs/ In interphases, and X-ray diffraction revealed planes corresponding to phases associated with GaAs and InAs due to In interfacial diffusion across GaAs layers. Finally, in order to study the composition and cristal quality of the manufactures nanostaructures, Raman spectra were taken using laser excitation lines of 452 nm, 532 nm, and 562 nm at different points across the nanostructures. This allowed to determine the transverse and longitudinal optical modes of GaAs and InAs, characteristic of a two-mode behavior. An acoustic longitudinal vibrational mode LA(Γ) of GaAs and an acoustic longitudinal mode activated by disorder (DALA) were observed. These resulted from the substitution of Ga atoms for In atoms in high concentrations due to the generation of Ga(VGa) and/or As(VAs) vacancies. This set of analyses show that magnetron sputtering can be a viable and relatively low-cost technique to obtain this type of semiconductors.