Growth of ZnSe(1−x)Tex epilayers by isothermal closed space sublimation

Abstract

ZnSe ( 1 − x ) Te x (x∼0.06) epilayers were grown on GaAs(001) substrates at 350 °C by isothermal closed space sublimation (ICSS) technique. The epitaxial growth was performed in low-pressure helium atmosphere (∼0.1 mbar) by sequential exposures of the substrate to vapors of a solid solution of selenium-tellurium and elemental zinc. The use of a mixed source is proposed in order to regulate the partial vapor pressure of the constituents by composition. Strain and composition of the ZnSe(1−x)Tex epilayers were extracted from high resolution x-ray reciprocal space mapping. Structural investigations show a reasonably good crystalline quality of the epilayers. Good reproducibility of composition and control of thickness were obtained although atomic layer epitaxy regimen was not achieved. A growth rate of 1.3 monolayers/cycle was ascribed to multilayer adsorption and the existence of an efficient transport of SeTe in graphite under thermodynamic conditions of ICSS. Both Raman and photoluminescence characterizations suggest the existence of random alloy epilayers with larger composition disorder in the mesoscopic scale than those obtained by molecular beam epitaxy.