Effect of growth temperature and Sb over in flux ratio on the Bi content and the surface morphology of InSbBi grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We investigated the effect of VSb/IIIIn flux ratio and growth temperature on the Bi content of InSbBi material grown on an InSb substrate using molecular beam epitaxy. The Rutherford backscattering spectrum from a bulk InSb0.977Bi0.023 epitaxial film showed a 98.5% substitutional site incorporation of Bi atoms. We demonstrated that a kinetic model of the growth can accurately predict the Bi content by taking into account the extremely low desorption/hopping probability of Sb on the InSb surface due to its low growth temperature and weaker In-Bi bond. The model implies a Bi desorption energy barrier on the InSb surface and an activation energy for Sb to displace Bi of 1.27 eV and 0.29 eV, respectively.