Liquid phase epitaxial growth of II–V semiconductor compound Zn3As2

Abstract

We report the liquid phase epitaxial growth of Zn3As2 on InAs (1 1 0) substrates using 100% In solvent. The zinc concentration in the layers was varied by changing the zinc mole fraction in the growth melt from 3 × 10−3 to 15 × 10−3, keeping all other growth parameters constant. Layers grown with 3 × 10−3, 5 × 10−3 and 8 × 10−3 mole fractions of zinc seem to be polycrystalline, while layers grown with more than 8 × 10−3 mole fraction of zinc resulted in highly oriented and single crystalline material. Composition of the epilayers was confirmed by energy dispersive x-ray microanalysis. Scanning electron microscopy was used to determine the thickness of the epilayers and the growth rate was calculated. Furthermore it was found that a linear dependence exists between the growth rate and the zinc mole fraction in the growth melt. Atomic force microscopy results reveal that the smoothness of the epilayers improve when the zinc concentration in the epilayer approaches the stoichiometric value of Zn3 As2. Room temperature Hall measurements showed that the grown epilayers were unintentionally doped p-type with an increase in the carrier mobility and a decrease in the carrier concentration with respect to the increase in the zinc mole fraction in the growth melt.