EPITAXIAL OVERGROWTH OF II-VI COMPOUNDS ON PATTERNED SUBSTRATES

The selected area epitaxial overgrowth of narrow gap HgTe as well as w ide gap CdTe and ZnTe on CdTe/GaAs substrates, which had been structur ed by dry etching techniques, has been investigated. A plasma etching process using a barrel reactor with CH4-H-2 gases has been employed to prepare stripes with a width of about 1 mum with anisotropic as well as isotropic etching profiles. It has been found, that the selected ar ea HgTe overgrowth takes place with a high local selectivity to the lo w index planes of the patterned surface. In contrast, the selected are a overgrowth of the wide gap CdTe and ZnTe is controlled by anisotropi c growth kinetics provided that the substrate temperature is not lower than 220-degrees-C and the starting surface consists of well develope d low index crystallographic planes.