Temperature Dependence of morphology of InP Films Grown by metalorganic molecular Beam Epitaxy

ABSTRACTTwo regimes of growth are observed for epitaxial films of InP prepared by metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy. Below a minimum growth temperature, kinetic roughening is observed. At temperatures higher than smooth morphologies are obtained. From the dependence of on the substrate Misorientation, we estimate a value of ∼0.4–0.5eV for the Schwoebel barrier. At growth temperatures higher than we observe two types of defects: large oval defects related only to the initial conditions of the substrate surface and small defects with the density strongly dependent on the growth condition. Increasing temperature above or decreasing V/III ratio, results in increased density of these defects. In addition, their density increases with an activation energy that depends on the substrate Misorientation. The origin of the oval defects is attributed to non-stoichiometric, P-defficient, clusters on the growing surface, formed either by enhanced cracking of metalorganic s on the substrate due to the presence of contaminants or by a low V/III ratio used for growth.