Thermodynamics of stacking faults in GaAs-based system revealed by in-situ heating in TEM

Stacking faults (SFs) are a type of two-dimensional defect that can significantly degrade the performance of III-V semiconductor devices. In this study, we investigate the thermal evolution of intrinsic SFs in (In)GaAs-on-Si systems using in-situ heating in an aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. Our results indicate that chiral intrinsic SFs near the InGaAs/GaAs interface undergo thermally induced migration and interaction, leading to the formation of Lomer-Cottrell locks at 700 °C. Between 200 and 700 °C, SFs exhibit sliding behaviour, which triggers their reaction into a characteristic three-layer defect (TLD) structure, which could be quickly annihilated during the baking environment. Using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (LTEM) to image magnetization configurations, we observed the formation of intrinsic stacking fault (SF)-induced magnetic vortices. These vortices arise from the competition between the Heisenberg exchange interaction and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). Notably, as field-driven dipole oscillations intensify, the magneto-Stark effect enables manipulation of transitions between out-of-plane and in-plane magnetic vector fields. This work advances the understanding of defect dynamics in III-V compound semiconductors and provides new strategies for tailoring crystal quality during epitaxial growth.