Abstract
Growth of the first few layers of an oxide mixture Ga 2 O 3 (Gd 2 O 3 ) on GaAs (100) substrate, electron-beam evaporated from a Ga 5 Go 3 O 12 source, was found to be a single crystal. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction and x-ray diffraction studies show that the thin oxide film is epitaxially grown on GaAs with the surface normal (110) and in-plane axis [001] parallel to (100) and [011] of GaAs, respectively, and has a structure isomorphic to Mn 2 O 3 . Studies using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy on the oxide-GaAs interface indicate some atomic registry between the oxide and GaAs during the initial growth. The chemical composition of the oxide film was determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to be unequivocally pure Gd 2 O 3 . © 2000 American Institute of Physics.