Effect of the interface morphology on the lateral electron transport in (001) GaP/Si heterostructures

Abstract

We study the magnetotransport properties along the interface of various epitaxial (001) GaP/Si heterostructures of different interface morphologies. The samples are grown by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy exploring different approaches for optimizing the interface for device applications. We apply magnetic fields up to 10 T and temperatures between 1.5 and 300 K in the measurement. We alternate Ar-ion-beam etching for reducing the thickness of the GaP layer and transport measurements in order to distinguish transport paths in the bulk of the materials and at the interface. The transport behavior is correlated with structural properties obtained by secondary ion mass spectroscopy, atomic-force microscopy, and scanning transmission electron microscopy. We find a conducting path along the interface that correlates with the formation of antiphase boundaries at the interface.