Mesoscopic island structure at GaAs/(AlGa)As interfaces grown by MBE

The study of interface morphology is of key importance for the optical as well as the transport properties of low-dimensional structures and can also lead to detailed understanding of growth processes. In this paper we report the results of systematic studies of the influence of the growth temperature on the morphology of GaAs/(AlGa)As quantum well (QW) interfaces. A combination of highly selective etching and subsequent atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to determine the interface morphology. This technique enables three-dimensional mapping of the interfaces with an atomic height resolution on lateral scales from 10 nm up to 50 /spl mu/m.