Effects of the Substrate Offset Angle on the Growth of GaAs on Si Substrate

In the growth of GaAs on Si, the effects of the offset angle of the substrate and its direction on the epitaxial layer were studied using spherical Si substrates. The growth was carried out by a low pressure MOCVD system. On the grown layer, milky lines were observed along the [010] and the [001] axis of the substrate. Except for the narrow regions along these milky lines, the grown layer showed a mirror-like surface with a single domain structure. The surface morphology and the etch pit density in the single domain GaAs layer were strongly affected by the offset direction as well as the offset angle of the substrate.