In situ optical techniques for monitoring the formation of nanostructures

Various optical techniques have been developed to meet new challenges in epitaxial growth. The primary parameters needed for growth control, layer thicknesses, and composition strongly influence the formation of nanostructures on surfaces. These two parameters can be obtained with spectroscopic ellipsometry. In this article, we discuss a similar technique, reflectance difference/anisotropy spectroscopy, which is capable of monitoring in situ the surface stress occurring from surface reconstructions, e.g. dimerization. Using reflectance difference spectroscopy in situ the size and shape of epitaxially grown self-assembling Mn-based nanostructures was reproducibly achieved by tracing the formation process. A variety of well controlled strain-induced island morphologies was obtained with the deposition of semiconducting materials on different Mn surfaces.

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