Relation between reflection high-energy electron diffraction specular beam intensity and the surface atomic structure/surface morphology of GaAs(111)B

Abstract

The intensity behavior of the specular beam in reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) from GaAs(111)B grown by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) is investigated for various growth and diffraction conditions. The temporal behavior during the initial growth of a buffer layer is examined at a fixed diffraction condition. Intensity increase is observed during and after the initial stages of buffer layer growth and found to saturate after about 80 monolayer growth. Intensity oscillations are seen starting at different moments of initial growth, the earliest observed after only 14 monolayer growth. These results are used to guide and control GaAs(111)B growths with mirrorlike surface morphology.