Investigation of GaP/Si heteroepitaxy on MOCVD prepared Si(100) surfaces

Antiphase-domain (APD) free growth of GaP on Si has been achieved on Si surfaces prepared in situ by etching with AsH3. The pre-nucleation AsH3 etching removes O and C contaminants at a relatively low temperature, and creates a single-domain arsenic-terminated Si surface. The As-As dimer rows are all parallel to the step edges, and subsequent GaP growth by MOCVD retains this dimerization orientation. Both LEED and TEM indicate that the resulting epilayer is APD-free, and could thereby serve as a template for III–V/Si multijunction solar cells.