Evolution of pyramid morphology during InAs(001) homoepitaxy

Growth of InAs(001) homoepitaxial layer has been carried out especially at the bistable region, where the coexistence of both In-stabilized (4x2) and As-stabilized (2x4) surface reconstruction are found to be predominant. The observation of pyramid morphology in this bistable region is reported here. Atomic force microscopy studies have been performed on such pyramids. The heights of the observed pyramids vary from 12 to 26 nm with their bases from 3.6x1.2 to 18x6.3 μm2. Formation of such pyramids in the bistable region is attributed to the unique anomalous As-desorption observed during the surface reconstruction.