Surface deformation phenomena induced by electron-beam irradiation in InGaAs/AlGaAs strained layers on GaAs[100] and [311]B substrates

We have found that mass transport phenomena were induced by electron-beam irradiation in strained In/sub 0.36/Ga/sub 0.64/As-Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/As layers on GaAs [100] and [311]B substrates. The strained InGaAs/AlGaAs layer structures have been grown on GaAs [100]and [311]B substrates in a horizontal low-pressure metaloganic vapor phase epitaxy system at a temperature of 800/spl deg/C and 830/spl deg/C. In the surface observation using high-resolution scanning electron microscope, the surface morphology was changed into a deformed structure by electron beam with the accelerating voltage of 30 kV and the scanning time of 60/spl sim/-120 sec. The surface deformation phenomena were observed in real time on the display of SEM, the deformation was nor amorphous-carbon contamination. The mass transport seems to be caused by the residual strain relaxation due to electron-beam irradiation.