The influence of the epitaxial growth temperature on the period of RHEED oscillations.

Temperature dependence of the oscillation period of an electron specular beam reflected from the surface of a growing epitaxial film has been studied. The Monte-Carlo simulation of the growth process has shown that an elevation of the film surface temperature within the range of occurrence of the 2D growth mechanism results in a reduction of the oscillation period. Experimental measurements of this period performed during molecular beam epitaxy of Ge films on Ge(111) have supported this conclusion. The activation energy of formation of two-dimensional islands has been determined to be 1.4 +/- 0.2 eV.