Reflectance-difference spectroscopy as a probe for semiconductor epitaxial growth monitoring

We report on real-time reflectance-difference (RD) spectroscopic measurements carried out during the homoepitaxial grow of GaAs under As overpressures in the range from PAs=6×10−7−5×10−6Torr. We found that the time-dependent RD spectrum is described in terms of two basic line shapes. One of these components is associated to the orthorhombic surface strain due to surface reconstruction while the second one has been assigned to surface composition. Results reported in this paper render RD spectroscopy as a powerful tool for the real-time monitoring of surface strains and its interplay with surface composition during growth. •We carried out real-time reflectance-difference spectroscopy measurement during the homoepitaxial growth of GaAs.•Reflectance-difference spectrum is described in terms of two basic line shapes in a range of As overpressures.•Reflectance-difference spectroscopy allows for the real-time monitoring of surface strains during epitaxial growth.