STRONG AND PERIODIC 1D INPLANE MODULATION OBTAINED BY MBE ON (001)GAAS VICINAL SURFACES

The lateral atomic organization of group III atoms (here Ga and Al) by atomic steps on GaAs substrates slightly misoriented with respect to (001) is far from being perfect. Nevertheless low-disordered in-plane potential modulation of large amplitude (10-50 meV) and short periodic ity (< 40 nm) can be obtained. The electronic properties observed in q uantum structures with a lateral potential modulation will be shortly reviewed. Before this, different growth phenomena limiting the organiz ation are discussed and some post-growth AFM studies of the step array are presented. The terrace distribution is analyzed using thermodynam ical equilibrium models an one hand and Monte Carlo simulation of the crystal growth on the other hand. An anisotropic Schwoebel barrier at the step edge is considered in order to best explain the measurements.