Cross-sectional lateral-force microscopy of semiconductor heterostructures and multiple quantum wells

Abstract

Lateral-force microscopy and atomic-force microscopy were employed to investigate (110) cross sections of ZnSe-GaAs(001) and ${\mathrm{In}}_{1\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathit{x}}$${\mathrm{Ga}}_{\mathit{x}}$P/GaAs(001) heterostructures, as well as ${\mathrm{Zn}}_{1\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathit{x}}$${\mathrm{Cd}}_{\mathit{x}}$Se/ZnSe multiple-quantum-well structures grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. Differences in the dynamic friction coefficient were successfully exploited to image interfaces in air with a lateral resolution better than 3--5 nm for all heterostructures.