Volatile metal-oxide incorporation in layers of GaAs, Ga _1-xAl_xAs and related compounds grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract

A model is presented which relates the observed effects of substrate temperature and growth flux magnitudes upon layer quality to the presence of volatile oxides and the thermodynamics of the formation of nonvolatile oxides on the growth surface. A means for reducing oxide contamination is presented and the consequent benefits explored.