Oblique nanomachining of gallium arsenide explained using AFM experiments and MD simulations

Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) continues to remain a material of significant importance due being preferred semiconductor substrate for the growth quantum dots (QDs) and GaAs-based devices used widely in fifth-generation (5G) wireless communication networks. In this paper, we explored aspects oblique nanomachining investigate improvement machining quality as well understand plasticity transport phenomena GaAs using atomic scale experiments simulations. We studied influence direction vector cutting tip (e.g. alignment) during surface generation process GaAs. noticed novel observation that when AFM tip's edge presented two acute angles (i.e., 30° each) between face (which can be regarded an condition), configuration involved early avalanche dislocations compared other configurations (e.g., orthogonal cutting). Orthogonal least coefficient friction but highest specific energy cutting. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) examination revealed shuffle-set slip on {1 1 1} system 〈1 0〉 type dislocation paves way nanometric Overall, particular condition was inferred best nanofabrication high-quality wafers AFM.