Materials 2013, 6, 3309-3360; doi:10.3390/ma6083309 OPEN ACCESS materials ISSN 1996-1944 www.mdpi.com/journal/materials Review Surface Stability and Growth Kinetics of Compound Semiconductors: An Ab Initio-Based Approach Yoshihiro Kangawa 1,*, Toru Akiyama 2, Tomonori Ito 2, Kenji Shiraishi 3 and Takashi Nakayama 4 1 Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, 6-1 Kasuga-koen, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan 2 Department of Physics Engineering, Mie University, 1577 Kurima-Machiya, Tsu 514-8507, Japan; E-Mails:
[email protected] (T.A.);
[email protected] (T.I.) 3 Institute of Physics, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan; E-Mail:
[email protected] 4 Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi, Inage, Chiba 263-8522, Japan; E-Mail:
[email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +81-92-583-7742; Fax: +81-92-583-7743. Received: 27 June 2013 / Accepted: 30 July 2013 / Published: 6 August 2013 Abstract: We review the surface stability and growth kinetics of III-V and III-nitride semiconductors. The theoretical approach used in these studies is based on ab initio calculations and includes gas-phase free energy. With this method, we can investigate the influence of growth conditions, such as partial pressure and temperature, on the surface stability and growth kinetics. First, we examine the feasibility of this approach by comparing calculated surface phase diagrams of GaAs(001) with experimental results.