1995 Volume 16 Issue 7 Pages 458-462
Co-Axial Impact Collision Ion Scattering Spectroscopy (CAICISS) was used to determine the change in elemental composition of the GaAs(001) surface at temperatures up to 420°C caused by low energy Ne ion bombardment at doses of up to 1017 atoms/cm2. The as-received GaAs surface was shown to be Garich consistent with the presence of a gallium based natural oxide at the surface. At temperatures of up to 320°C, sputtering the surface to a dose of ∼1016< atoms cm-2 resulted in a As/Ga surface composition ratio close to 1:1 indicative of sputter removal of the oxide layer. Annealing the as received wafer at 630°C in an attempt to remove the natural oxide layer was found to result in a near 100% Ga terminated surface, however, annealing the same sample after prior room temperature sputter removal of the natural oxide layer resulted in a slightly arsenic rich surface.