Highly ordered self-assembled nanoscale periodic faceting in GaAs(631) homoepitaxial growth

We report on the self-assembly of large-order-correlated nanoscale faceting on GaAs(631)A substrates grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The surface morphology of the grown samples as a function of the growth temperature and the As-beam equivalent pressure was studied using atomic force microscopy. A two-dimensional autocorrelation function analysis was performed in order to quantitatively determine the uniformity of the surface corrugation. By optimizing the growth conditions, correlated faceted areas as large as 1.7 x 1.7 mu m(2) are obtained. The highly ordered surface corrugation discussed here provides useful insights to prepare highly ordered facet planes for the self organized growth of quantum wires. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4746423]