Kinetic surface roughening in molecular beam epitaxy of InP

Abstract

Surface roughening of (100) InP films grown by metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy was observed by scanning force microscopy. The roughening process gives rise to periodic elongated terraces aligned in the [01\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{}1] direction; kinetic control by surface diffusion activation is indicated by the dependence on group III and V fluxes, and growth temperature. Below a given temperature for each set of growth parameters the surface roughness shows two distinct power law regimes dependent on the film thickness. This result supports growth models using ballistic aggregation and surface diffusion.