Electron microscopy of an aluminum layer grown on the vicinal surface of a gallium arsenide substrate

A thin Al layer grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on a misoriented GaAs (100) substrate is studied by transmission electron microscopy. Electron diffraction data and bright-field, dark-field, and high-resolution images show that, in the layer, there are Al grains of three types of crystallographic orientation: Al (100), Al (110), and Al (110)R. The specific structural features of the interfaces between the differently oriented grains and substrate are studied by digital processing of the high-resolution images. From quantitative analysis of the dark-field images, the relative content and sizes of the differently oriented grains are determined. It is found that atomic steps at the substrate surface cause an increase in the fraction and sizes of Al (110)R grains and a decrease in the fraction of Al (100) grains, compared to the corresponding fractions and sizes in the layer grown on a singular substrate surface.