Barrier formation at graded HgTe/CdTe heterojunctions

Abstract

Numerical calculations of graded HgTe/CdTe heterojunction (HJ) band diagrams at equilibrium are presented and discussed. The calculations are performed in the entire compositional range (0<x<1), using a nonparabolic conduction band and Fermi-Dirac statistics. The dependence of barrier formation at graded HJs are examined as a function of the graded region width and the graded region doping profiles. The graded region width and doping profiles were found to be the two main factors that determine whether barriers are formed as well as their shape and magnitude. The calculated results indicate that epitaxial ohmic HgTe contacts to extrinsic CdTe are possible, provided that the graded region is wider than one micron, and that it has the same doping type as the doping of the substrate with equal or higher absolute value. Further numerical calculations take into consideration the possible existence of distributed interface charges in the graded region of the HJ. It is shown that by assuming a classical transport over the potential barrier, the effective graded interface charge can be determined from the zero bias differential resistance of the HJ. Experimental transport measurements of metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) grown HgTe/p-CdTe graded HJs show a varying degree of rectification, indicating variations in the graded interface charge distributions which result from different MOCVD growth conditions.