Kinetic model for molecular beam epitaxy growth of InAsSbBi alloys

The growth of Bi-containing III-V alloys requires careful control over temperature and group-V fluxes due to the low equilibrium solubility of Bi and its tendency to surface segregate into Bi-rich droplet features. A model for molecular beam epitaxy growth based on the kinetics of atomic desorption, incorporation, surface accumulation, and droplet formation is applied to the bismide alloy InAsSbBi grown on GaSb substrates. A steady-state solution is derived for the Bi, Sb, and As mole fractions and surface layer coverages based on the Bi, Sb, and As fluxes. A nonlinear least-squares algorithm is used to fit the growth model parameters to experimentally measured Bi mole fractions in bulk and quantum well InAsSbBi samples grown at 400 °C and 420 °C. The Bi mole fraction ranges from 0.12% to 1.86% among 17 samples examined. The results indicate that as the growth temperature increases, the rate of Bi incorporation decreases and the rate of Bi self-desorption increases. A strong interaction is observed between Bi and As that plays a role in the desorption of excess Bi from the growth surface, thus reducing the likelihood of Bi-rich droplet formation when an excess As flux is present. Significantly, the model predicts that the incorporation of Bi is limited to mole fractions of 1.43% at 400 °C and 0.30% at 420 °C in lattice-matched bulk InAsSbBi grown on GaSb substrates.