Plastic deformation in two-inch diameter GaAs wafers resulted from standard thermal treatments which accompanied epitaxial growth in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) machines of three different makes. Synchrotron based X-ray transmission topography was used to distinguish between thermal treatment induced dislocation bundles and misfit dislocations. Eradication of the wafer slip related dislocation bundles has been achieved by modifications to the sample holder of a user built MBE machine. These modifications are discussed, the extent of the problem is briefly outlined, and an extrapolation of the susceptibility of GaAs wafers of higher diameters to this type of plastic deformation is given.

Keywords: GaAs, dislocations, thermal treatment, plastic deformation

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