PHASE-TRANSITION-INDUCED DEFECT FORMATION IN III-V-SEMICONDUCTORS

We present experimental and theoretical evidence for the creation of inversion domain boundaries (IDBs) at structural phase transitions in III-V semiconductors. A novel use of anomalous high-pressure powder x-ray diffraction with an image plate area detector allows for the study of weak difference scattering, the absence of which is attributed to IDBs. As a test of this, ab initio total energy pseudopotential calculations, including both ionic relaxation and boundary layer expansion, have been performed on a particular type of possible defect-a (110) IDB in InSb.