Sb-rich nanoinclusions in an AlGaAsSb metamaterial

We studied the microstructure of Al0.28Ga0.72As0.972Sb0.028 metamaterials containing a developed array of AsSb nanoinclusions. The AlGaAsSb films were grown by low-temperature molecular-beam epitaxy followed by high-temperature annealing at 750°C. The process resulted in an array of self-organized AsSb nanonclusions with an average diameter of 15 nm. The volume filling factor was about 0.003. Using transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction we showed that the nanoinclusions have A7-type rhombohedral atomic structure with the following orientation in the matrix (0003)p {111}m and [-2110]p 〈220〉m, where p and m indices indicate the AsSb precipitate and AlGaAsSb matrix, correspondingly. The nanoinclusions appeared to be strongly enriched by antimony (more than 90 atomic %), whereas the Sb content in the AlGaAsSb matrix was 2.8 atomic %. The strong enrichment of the inclusion with Sb resulted from the local thermodynamic equilibrium between the solid AlGaAsSb matrix and AsSb inclusions which became liquid at a formation temperature of 750°C.