Chemical composition and thermal stability of GaAs oxides grown by AFM anodic oxidation for site-controlled growth of InAs quantum dots

We have fabricated GaAs oxides by using atomic force microscope (AFM)-assisted anodic oxidation at various bias voltages, Vox, and studied their chemical compositions and thermal stabilities. The oxides grown at bias voltages less than 30 V desorbed after standard thermal cleaning in molecular beam epitaxy, while the oxide patterns fabricated at Vox≥40 V survived on the surface. We have further investigated the chemical composition of the oxides by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. It has been found that the AFM oxides grown at Vox∼10 V predominantly consist of Ga2O and GaO, whereas those grown at Vox∼50 V contain a Ga2O3-component. This result indicates that the better thermal stability of AFM oxides grown at Vox≥40 V can be attributed to the formation of Ga2O3. We grew a GaAs buffer layer on the oxide nanomasks and obtained nanoholes. After supplying InAs, selective dot nucleation took place in the nanoholes, resulting in successful formation of site-controlled QDs.