An interfacial study of III-V materials

Finnie, Michael P. (2010) An interfacial study of III-V materials. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Z-contrast imaging, using a high-angle annular dark field detector, can be used to characterise III-V heterostructures. GaAs/AlAs heterostructures were grown using MBE and prepared for TEM using a cross-sectional method. SuperSTEM 1 was used to investigate both the GaAs-on-AlAs and the AlAs-on-GaAs interfaces as a function of specimen thickness. The analysis of the images showed that the apparent interface widths varied with thickness in an unexpected manner. The measured GaAs-on-AlAs interface widths remained constant with thickness while the AlAs-on-GaAs interface widths increased. Furthermore, the apparent width of the GaAs layer increased with increasing thickness. The actual interfacial width can be a result of either surface stepping during MBE growth or inter-diffusion of the Type-3 atoms. To assist the interpretation of these results, a series of interfacial models were created and explored using a modified version of the frozen phonon multislice simulation. The models consisted of terraced, vicinal and diffused interfaces. The model results indicate that a diffuse interface can be used to describe the characteristics observed in the experimental images. However, probe scattering from the interfacial region can be counter intuitive. A systematic study of these effects is presented outlining complications that can occur when interpreting interfacial structures using HAADF imaging.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: HAADF Imaging, STEM, Multislice Simulation, III-V heterostructures
• Subjects: Q Science > QC Physics
• Colleges/Schools: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Supervisor's Name: Craven, Prof. Alan
• Date of Award: 2010
• Depositing User: Mr Michael Finnie
• Unique ID: glathesis:2010-1941
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 28 Jun 2010
• Last Modified: 10 Dec 2012 13:48
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/1941