Surface reconstruction of GaAs with adsorbed Te.

The surface reconstructions that result from the adsorption of Te on (100) GaAs have been shown to affect the orientation of CdTe films on GaAs. Two reconstructions are described here. A low temperature, (6x1) surface leads to (100) film growth. At 580C, a new surface results which is characterized by ordering along directions 60degree from [011] and [011]. The reconstruction in this case is shown to be (square root 3x3), and it leads to (111) growth of CdTe. Both surface reconstruction and the interaction of the group II element with the surface are believed to be important in determining the orientation of the film.