Developments in the use of RHEED for interpreting growth processes in the MBE of wide gap II–VI semiconductors

Abstract

The reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) during molecular beam epitaxial growth enables a unique insight of how growth proceeds. The subject as a whole is reviewed and some new results including a Monte-Carlo simulation are added in order to establish a comprehensive assessment of the details of the processes that take place during MBE growth of wide-gap II–VI semiconductors. Processes that take place during growth interruptions, the occurrence of a phenomenon denoted as “material contrast”, which has so far only been reported for II–VI materials, and a detailed analysis of the phase angle of RHEED oscillations are covered.