Thin Solid Films, Vol.318, No.1-2, 223-226, 1998
Influence of the deposition rate on the structure of thin metal layers
The influence of the deposition rate on the morphology of epitaxial Sb layers on GaAs(110) is investigated. Layers with a nominal thickness of 30 monolayers (ML) were deposited with varying deposition rates (10 to 0.03 ML/min) on substrates kept at room temperature. Characterization techniques employed are Raman scattering, low energy electron diffraction (LEED), X-ray reflectivity and scanning probe microscopy. A wide variation of layer morphology is obtained dependent on the deposition rate: lowering the deposition rate generally results in larger island size and rougher surfaces. In most cases, the Sb layer is of rhombohedral structure. However, in a very narrow range of deposition rates, we found a growth mode of Sb, which is similar to a pseudo-cubic phase. This phase was found so far only for a thickness below 15 ML after annealing at 475 K.