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Reflection high‐energy electron diffraction has been used to monitor the layer‐by‐layer removal of GaAs during chemical beam etching. The etching is accomplished by injecting AsCl3 gas directly into the growth chamber at a temperature typical for the growth. The development of a spotty pattern provides an early indication of surface roughness. A roughening mechanism of the etched surface due to a sluggish cation diffusion is identified. A migration enhanced etching method has been investigated in the etching of InP using AsCl3, which results in mirror like morphology. A two‐dimensional etching mechanism and a in situ monitoring technique at atomic scale are essential for a true monolayer etching technology.

Secondary ion mass spectrometry was used to study the effect of substrate temperature on the composition and growth rate of InGaAs/InP multilayers grown by chemical beam epitaxy. The dependence on the As overpressure was also studied for the first time by this technique. The substrate temperature effects that we observed are in good agreement with published results from x‐ray diffraction and Auger electron spectroscopy studies. The Ga/In ratio was observed to decrease with increasing arsine flow rate in contradiction to previously reported results.