The Evolution of Ga and As Core Levels in the Formation of Fe/GaAs(001): A High Resolution Soft X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopic Study

A high resolution soft x-ray photoelectron spectroscopic study of Ga and As 3d core levels has been conducted for Fe/GaAs (001) as a function of Fe thickness. This work has provided unambiguous evidence of substrate disrupting chemical reactions induced by the Fe overlayer--a quantitative analysis of the acquired spectra indicates significantly differing behavior of Ga and As during Fe growth, and our observations have been compared with existing theoretical models. Our results demonstrate that the outdiffusing Ga and As remain largely confined to the interface region, forming a thin intermixed layer. Whereas at low coverages Fe has little influence on the underlying GaAs substrate, the onset of substrate disruption when the Fe thickness reaches 3.5 {angstrom} results in major changes in the energy distribution curves (EDCs) of both As and Ga 3d cores. Our quantitative analysis suggests the presence of two new As environments of metallic character; one bound to the interfacial region and another which, as confirmed by in-situ oxidation experiments, surface segregates and persists over a wide range of overlayer thickness. Analysis of the corresponding Ga 3d EDCs found not two, but three new environments--also metallic in nature. Two of the three are interface-resident whereas the third undergoes outdiffusion at low Fe coverages. Based on the variations of the integrated intensities of each component, we present a schematic of the proposed chemical make-up of the Fe/GaAs (001) system