E(0) BAND-GAP ENERGY AND LATTICE-CONSTANT OF TERNARY ZN1-XMGXSE AS FUNCTIONS OF COMPOSITION

The E(0) band gap energies and the lattice constants of zinc-blende Zn 1-xMgxSe alloys grown by molecular beam epitaxy in the composition ran ge of 0 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 0.95 an determin ed. A nonlinear dependence on the composition is observed for both the band-gap energies and the lattice constants of the ternary alloys. To our knowledge this is an initial report of a bowing in the lattice co nstant of a ternary II-VI alloy. Considering the bowings, the band-gap energy and the lattice constant of zinc-blende MgSe are extrapolated to be about 4.0 eV and 5.91 Angstrom, respectively. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.