MBE growth of antiphase GaAs films using GaAs/Ge/GaAs heteroepitaxy

Semiconductor films with periodic crystal orientation modulation have nonli near properties useful for optical wave-mixing devices. We have developed a n all-epitaxial technique for preparing orientation-patterned GaAs template s by GaAs/Ge/GaAs epitaxy and have used these to grow laterally orientation -patterned films. We have investigated the effects of substrate misorientat ion, substrate temperature, and prelayer to find conditions which will allo w controlled MBE growth of antiphase GaAs using thin Ge interlayers. After fabricating templates from these films using lithography and etching techni ques, we have regrown GaAs films with antiphase crystal orientation modulat ion in the plane of the film. The template-induced antiphase boundaries wer e observed to propagate vertically under all conditions examined. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.