Ga and In incorporation rates in Ga1-xInxAs growth by chemical beam epitaxy

GaAs, InAs and Ga1-xInxAs layers were grown by chemical beam epitaxy (CBE) using triethylgallium, trimethylindium and tertiarybutylarsine as precursors for Ga, In and As, respectively. The growth rate during the homoepitaxial growth of GaAs and InAs, deduced from the frequency of reflection high-energy electron diffraction intensity oscillations, was used to calibrate the incorporation rates for the III elements. The In content of the Ga1-xInxAs layers was measured by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and compared with the value predicted from the above calibration data: while the measured In mole fraction is close to the predicted value for the samples grown for low In to Ga flux ratios (x < 0.2), the In incorporation is enhanced for larger values of this ratio. The results obtained on layers grown at different substrate temperatures show that In mole fraction is almost constant at growth temperatures in the range 400-500 degrees C, but a strong dependence on the substrate temperature has been found outside this range. The above results, not observed for samples grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy, indicate that some interaction between Ga and In precursors at the sample surface could take place during the growth by CBE. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.