Surface Studies by Low-Energy Electron Diffraction and Reflection High-Energy-Electron Diffraction

In this chapter, we present the basic concepts of the low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) experiments. The main goal is to provide an overview of the exploitation of these instrumental methods for analyzing the surfaces of technologically important III–V compound semiconductors. In particular, the interpretation of LEED and RHEED patterns is discussed for the most representative reconstructions of GaAs(100), GaInAsN(100), and Bi-stabilized III–V(100) surfaces. Other application examples concern the use of RHEED for optimizing the growth conditions and growth rates used in molecular beam epitaxy of III–V device heterostructures