Application of high energy ion channeling to GaAs(110), Au-GaAs(110) and Pd-GaAs(110)

The first application of high energy ion channeling to the atomically clean GaAs(110) surface and metal-GaAs interfaces is reported. Questions of sample preparation, background correction and computer simulation are addressed. It is found that the Ga and As atoms at the clean surface are laterally displaced ⩽ 0.1 A from the ideal bulk-like sites. The implications of this result to current LEED models are discussed. Au overlayers, deposited at room temperature, do not seem to produce lateral displacements of the substrate for coverages below ≈ 5 monolayer (ML). However, ≈ 0.9 ML of the substrate are expanded or contracted upon Au deposition; this process is completed at a coverage of 0.5 ML. Neither an indication of any order in the Au film is found, nor seems a significant (≳ 5%) fraction of Au atoms to occupy substitutional sites. In contrast, room-temperature deposition of Pd disorders the substrate substantially, without threshold coverage, even at very small film thicknesses.