PREPARATION, MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES OF MICRORELIEF INP SURFACES

The morphology of microrelief InP surfaces, prepared by anisotropic ch emical etching without masking and the kinetics of this etching were s tudied. A statistical analysis of surface profiles shows that the surf ace studied has a Gaussian roughness distribution and the ratio of roo t-mean-square surface roughness delta to autocorrelation length sigma, is small and amounts to (2-5) x 10(-2) . For such a surface a reducti on in specular reflection and increase in photocurrent of barrier stru ctures have been observed. Such microrelief structures may be used to increase the collection efficiency of solar cells and the sensitivity of photodetectors.