X-Ray Structure Investigation of Lateral Surface Nanostructures - A Full Quantitative analysis of Non-Uniform Lattice Strain

Single and multilayer surface gratings of the system GaInAs/InP are studied by x-ray diffraction reciprocal space mapping. From the diffraction data we determine the gratting period and shape, the vertical compositional set-up and the non-uniform strain field caused by elastic strain relaxation after surface patterning. In particular, we report a full quantitative strain analysis of such structures. The fitting procedure is based on strain calculation employing linear elasticity theory.