Analysis of Bi Distribution in Epitaxial GaAsBi by Aberration-Corrected HAADF-STEM

N. Baladés, D. L. Sales, M. Herrera, C. H. Tan, Y. Liu, R. D. Richards, S. I. Molina

The Bi content in GaAs/GaAs1 - xBi x /GaAs heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy at a substrate temperature close to 340 °C is investigated by aberration-corrected high-angle annular dark-field techniques. The analysis at low magnification of high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy images, corroborated by EDX analysis, revealed planar defect-free layers and a non-homogeneous Bi distribution at the interfaces and within the GaAsBi layer. At high magnification, the qHAADF analysis confirmed the inhomogeneous distribution and Bi segregation at the GaAsBi/GaAs interface at low Bi flux and distorted dumbbell shape in areas with higher Bi content. At higher Bi flux, the size of the Bi gathering increases leading to roughly equiaxial Bi-rich particles faceted along zinc blende {111} and uniformly dispersed around the matrix and interfaces. FFT analysis checks the coexistence of two phases in some clusters: a rhombohedral pure Bi (rh-Bi) one surrounded by a zinc blende GaAs1 - xBi x matrix. Clusters may be affecting to the local lattice relaxation and leading to a partially relaxed GaAsBi/GaAs system, in good agreement with XRD analysis.