Special features of Sb2 and Sb4 incorporation in MBE-grown AlGaAsSb alloys

AlGaAsSb and GaAsSb alloys of different composition were grown by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) on GaSb, InAs, and GaAs substrates, using both conventional and cracker antimony effusion cells. The incorporation coefficients of dimer and tetramer antimony molecules, which totally describe the kinetic processes on the growth surface, were calculated. The differences in the incorporation of Sb2 and Sb4 molecules in MBE-grown GaAsSb alloys are shown. The effect of the MBE-growth parameters (substrate temperature and incident fluxes of group-V and group-III elements) on the composition of (Al,Ga)AsSb alloys and the incorporation coefficient of Sb was studied in detail. The incorporation coefficients of tetramer and dimer antimony molecules were found to vary over a wide range, depending on the substrate temperature and the ratio between the arrival rates of the group-III and the group-V elements.