Structural and electrical properties of epitaxial metal films grown on argon ion bombarded and annealed (001)InP

A study has been made of intimate metal-InP contacts prepared by metal beam epitaxy in ultra-high vacuum Oxygen and carbon contamination was removed from the (001)InP surface by bombardment with 500 eV Ar⁺ ions. On annealing to 250°C, In islands appeared on the surface and c(2×8) reconstruction was observed. Gold and silver films were found to grow epitaxially on the InP at ?40°C but the electrical properties indicate greatly reduced Schottky barrier heights and non-ideal current-voltage characteristics which may be attributed to non-stoichiometry and damage at the semiconductor surface resulting from the ion bombardment.