Dependence of the condensation coefficient of Hg on the orientation and the stability of the Hg–Te bond for the growth of Hg1−xMxTe (M=Cd, Mn, Zn)

Abstract

We investigate here the influence of the crystallographic orientation of the CdTe substrate and the stability of Hg–Te bond on the condensation of Hg during the growth of Hg1−xCdxTe. Our experiments show that the crystallographic orientation of the substrate indeed has a strong influence on the growth parameters, such as the Hg and Cd condensation coefficients, for the growth of Hg1−xCdxTe by molecular‐beam epitaxy. The CdTe (111)B face required about one order of magnitude less mercury than a (111)A face when the growth temperature was 185 °C. Whereas for a CdTe (100) face, the Hg condensation coefficient falls in between. Orientation dependence of the Hg condensation coefficient can be explained in terms of the bonding of the surface atoms. For the same growth rate, and substrate temperature Mn needed the most mercury and Zn needed the least, while Cd falls in between. HgTe needed less Hg compared to that of Hg1−xCdxTe. This supports the theoretical prediction where, Cd destabilizes the Hg–Te bond while...