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Selective etching of ALAs for preparation of III–V semiconductor thin foils
Author(s) -
Breen Kathleen R.,
Wilson R. A.,
McClintock J. A.,
Ahearn J. S.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
microscopy research and technique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1097-0029
pISSN - 1059-910X
DOI - 10.1002/jemt.1070250405
Subject(s) - materials science , transmission electron microscopy , ion milling machine , thin film , dislocation , semiconductor , molecular beam epitaxy , optoelectronics , etching (microfabrication) , layer (electronics) , planar , optics , epitaxy , nanotechnology , composite material , computer graphics (images) , physics , computer science
A new method of thin section preparation of III–‐V semiconductors and multilayers for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is presented that exhibits considerable advantages over conventional methods such as ion beam milling and jet thinning. GaAs thin films and multilayers of GaAs/In x Ga 1‐x As/GaAs are grown over an etch release layer of AlAs on GaAs substrates by molecular beamepitaxy (MBE). Planar TEM sections prepared by selective etching from these samples show improved ability to image film morphology and dislocation arrangements, and the resulting large thin electron transparent areas facilitate dislocation density measurements and detection of spatial variations. Avoidance of radiation effects and wedge shaping, both common to ion milled samples, allows this method to be used to prepare uniform thickness standards of single layer GaAs films for EDS analysis or lattice imaging. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.