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Large lattice mismatched heterostructures In0.78Ga0.22As/GaAs were grown with a low-temperature (LT) InGaAs buffer. Misfit dislocation arrays were observed at the LT-buffer/GaAs interfaces. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to investigate the microstructures of the heterointerfaces. The relationship between misfit dislocations and strain relaxation at the interface was analysed. It was found that strain redistribution gives rise to the discrepancy of interfacial structure and misfit strain relaxation for different samples. The experimental results are in favor of the conclusion and confirm the analysis we proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two-step growth technique was introduced to solve the high lattice mismatch (5.6%) between In0.78Ga0.22As and GaAs substrate, and the mechanism of dislocation density reduction by a low-temperature buffer (LT-buffer) was investigated experimentally. For different thicknesses of LT-buffer layers, the surface morphology and microstructure were investigated, and the residual strain and dislocation density of the In0.78Ga0.22As epitaxial layer were studied by XRD, Raman spectroscopy and TEM. We proposed a mechanism explaining the dislocation density reduction during the two-step growth process by the LT-buffer. Also, the experimental results support our conclusion and verify the mechanism we presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]