Assessment of mismatched epitaxial layers by X-ray rocking curve measurements and simulations

In the design of heteroepitaxial systems the knowledge of composition, strain and thickness of the various layers involved is of great importance. The determination of these structural parameters is among the applications most common in high-resolution X-ray diffraction. Numerical simulation of rocking curves has emerged as an important aid in the determination of the relevant structural parameters. Based upon the dynamical theory of X-ray diffraction a FORTRAN program has been written to simulate and refine structural parameters from rocking curve data. X-ray rocking curve analysis has been used to develop and optimize MOCVD-growth of Ga(x)In(1-x)P/GaAs heteroepitaxial systems. We observed superlattice peaks in samples of low misfit. With the aid of computer simulations we attribute these to unintentional periodic compositional fluctuations (Ga/In) of the order of 1 per cent.