Systematic study of the surface morphology of ordered (GaIn)P

Abstract The surface morphology of CuPt B -type ordered (GaIn)P, lattice-matched grown on (001)GaAs by low-pressure MOVPE, was systematically investigated by means of atomic force microscopy. Since surface steps, e.g. provided by different misorientations of the substrates, are known to affect the ordering behaviour, the superstep distances and heights are examined in order to correlate the surface structure to the existing ordering. In order to correlate both surface morphology and ordering, experiments have been performed varying the growth parameters and the partial pressure of the phosphorous precursors phosphine (PH 3 ), tertiarybutylphosphine (TBP) and ditertiarybutylphosphine (DitBuPH), and finally the Zn doping concentration. From these results, in addition to previously reported data [S.H. Lee, G.B. Stringfellow, J. Appl. Phys. 83 (1998) 3620], generally valid dependencies for the superstep distances, superstep heights, and the degree of ordering are derived and interpreted.