Abstract
We identify a novel reaction mechanism in the thin film synthesis of compound materials. With the example of the O plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy of III-O and IV-O semiconductors—, and —we illustrate this mechanism, involving the intermediate formation of a suboxide. This consecutive reaction mechanism, as well as the competing desorption of a subcompound, are the basis for the development of a quantitative growth model parametrized by three material-dependent parameters. It is proposed and justified to be applicable to other III-VI and IV-VI compounds whose constituents exhibit analogous kinetic and thermodynamic properties to those discussed for oxides. We validate this model quantitatively by experimental growth rate and desorption data as a function of all growth parameters for , and . As the first of its kind, our model serves as a basis for more sophisticated growth models, e.g., describing multicomponent materials or including surface diffusion processes, and can be transferred to other growth techniques and thin films that grow via intermediate reaction products.
- Received 14 November 2017
- Corrected 9 July 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.120401
©2018 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Corrections
9 July 2020
Correction: The originally published Figure 3 contained a resolution error and has been fixed. Inconsistencies in figure regime identifications have been fixed. Missing error values for some quantities have been inserted. Equation (10) and the first line in Table 1, last column, contained minor errors and have been fixed.
