ATOMIC-STRUCTURE OF THE CDTE(001) C(2X2) RECONSTRUCTED SURFACE - A GRAZING-INCIDENCE X-RAY-DIFFRACTION STUDY

We present a grazing incidence x-ray diffraction surface structure det ermination on a II-VI compound, namely, the CdTe(001) C(2X2) reconstru cted surface, grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The structural analysis leads to a model with cadmium bridges corresponding to a coverage of 0.5 ML Cd, as expected from previous studies. This surface arrangement is accompanied by a significant relaxation of the underlying substrat e down to the sixth atomic layer. Moreover, a strong anisotropy of the reconstructed domain dimensions is observed and quantified. This find ings may explain the anisotropic behavior observed during homoepitaxia l and heteroepitaxial growth on CdTe. (C) 1995 American Institute of P hysics.