ATOMIC LAYER EPITAXY AND MOLECULAR-BEAM EPITAXY OF CDTE MNTE SUPERLATTICES - A STRUCTURAL AND OPTICAL STUDY/

Atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) is investigated together with conventional molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) for the growth of CdTe/MnTe superlattices . A systematic structural and magneto-optical study demonstrates that: (i) all Mn atoms incident on the surface get incorporated; however, w hen a quantity superior or equal to 1 monolayer of Mn is sent onto the surface per ALE cycle, the growth front roughens, leading to the form ation of MnTe islands, (ii) optimized atomic layer epitaxy allows us t o obtain at 280 degrees C CdTe/ MnTe superlattices with a better contr ol than in conventional MBE, but does not prevent the exchange between Cd and Mn atoms from occurring at the interfaces, (iii) low temperatu re ALE (200 degrees C and lower) seems to be a promising way of obtain ing more abrupt interfaces. A precise value of the ratio of the elasti c coefficients 2c(12)/c(11) is otherwise inferred through this study f or zincblende MnTe (1.12). (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0 021-8979(98)06020-4].