Optimization of conditions for thermal smoothing GaAs surfaces

GaAs thermal smoothing by annealing in conditions which are close to equilibrium between the surface and vapors of As and Ga was earlier proved to be effective for the step-terraced surface formation on epi-ready substrates with a small root-mean-square roughness (R_q ≤ 0.15 nm). In the present study, this technique is further developed in order to reduce the annealing duration and to smooth GaAs samples with a larger initial roughness. To this end, we proposed a two-stage anneal with the first high-temperature stage aimed at smoothing «coarse» relief features and the second stage focused on «fine» smoothing at a lower temperature. The optimal temperatures and durations of two-stage annealing are found by Monte Carlo simulations and adjusted after experimentation. It is proved that the temperature and duration of the first high-temperature stage are restricted by the surface roughening, which occurs due to deviations from equilibrium conditions.