Oxidation as an assistant tool for structural analysis of inhomogeneous nanoscale InAs/AlAs(001) island system

In the paper we present the structural and morphological investigation of an InAs/AlAs(001) island system under growth conditions where partial island coalescence takes place. To provide the structural analysis of elastically strained islands, new experimental X-ray diffraction technique based on effect of islands oxidation is proposed and verified. It is found that both elastically strained and plastically relaxed islands coexist and have distinctly different sizes and chemical composition what can be explained by differences in their formation mechanisms. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)