Surface Texture and Crystallinity Variation of ZnTe Epilayers Grown on the Step-Terrace Structure of the Sapphire Substrate

Abstract

ZnTe/sapphire heterostructures were focused, and ZnTe thin films were prepared on highly mismatched sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. A sapphire substrate possessing an atomically-smooth step-terrace structure was used to improve the crystallinity and morphology of the produced ZnTe film. The growth mode of the ZnTe thin film on a sapphire substrate with an atomically-smooth step-terrace structure was found to shift to a two-dimensional growth mode, and a ZnTe thin film possessing a flat surface was obtained. The crystallographic properties of the ZnTe film suggested that the resulting layer consisted of a single (111)-oriented domain. The photoluminescence property was also improved, and the interface lattice alignment between the ZnTe and sapphire was also affected by the atomically-smooth step-terrace structure.