Recent electron diffraction studies have found ordered phases in AlxGa1-xAs, GaAsxSb1-x, and InxGa1-xAs alloy systems, and these ordered phases are likely to be found in many other III-V ternary alloys as well. The presence of ordered phases in these alloys was detected in the diffraction patterns through the appearance of superstructure reflections between the Bragg peaks (Fig. 1). The ordered phase observed in the AlxGa1-xAs and InxGa1-xAs systems is of the CuAu-I type, whereas in GaAsxSb1-x this phase and a chalcopyrite type ordered phase can be present simultaneously. The degree of order in these alloys is strongly dependent on the growth conditions, and during the growth of these alloys, high surface mobility of the depositing species is essential for the onset of ordering. Thus, the growth on atomically flat (110) surfaces usually produces much stronger ordering than the growth on (100) surfaces. The degree of order is also affected by the presence of antiphase boundaries (APBs) in the ordered phase. As shown in Fig. 2(a), a perfectly ordered In0.5Ga0.5As structure grown along the <110> direction consists of alternating InAs and GaAs monolayers, but due to local growth fluctuations, two types of APBs can occur: one involves two consecutive InAs monolayers and the other involves two consecutive GaAs monolayers.
Melting of the ultrathin lubricant film between atomically-flat solid surfaces as second-order phase transition
