EFFECT OF ATOMIC-HYDROGEN IN HIGHLY LATTICE-MISMATCHED MOLECULAR-BEAMEPITAXY

Effects of atomic hydrogen on the growth of lattice-mismatched InAs/Ga As and GaAs/InP systems have been investigated. The irradiation of ato mic H has resulted in a delay of the onset of formation of three-dimen sional islands maintaining flat surface morphology and increase of the critical layer thickness (CLT) from 4 to 10 Angstrom in the case of t he InAs/GaAs system. The effect of atomic H was shown to be dependent on the growth conditions such as the growth temperature and V/III flux ratio. The increase of CLT with atomic H irradiation may be explained by the uniform distribution of the total misfit stress in the plane o f the surface as a result of enhanced two-dimensional growth by atomic H acting as a surfactant.