Novel Selective Growth Using a Native Oxide on a (110) Cleaved Plane of AlGaAs/GaAs Superlattice

This paper reports a novel selective growth on a cleaved facet of AlGaAs/GaAs superlattice by low-pressure metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. We reveal that the native oxide on the AlGaAs region of the cleaved facet of superlattice can be used as a selective growth mask by following a simple procedure. This mask pattern is very fine and uniform and can be used to fabricate laterally patterned structures whose period is determined by the period of the semiconductor superlattice. The growth proceeding on the grating-like structure formed on the (110)-cleaved plane by this selective growth is in highly slanted because of the asymmetric crystal planes that make up the grating, and the corrugated shape can be preserved during the growth of a thick AlGaAs layer, which is in marked contrast to the usual growth on (001)-oriented grating. Using these characteristics, we can fabricate stacked wire-like structures on the cleaved facet of a superlattice completely without undergoing a lithographic process. This fabrication method is promising for forming the dense-and-stacked quantum wires that are strongly required for device applications of multidimensional quantum structures.