Molecular beam epitaxial growth of ZnSe layers on GaAs and Si substrates

We present a study of the molecular beam epitaxial (MBE) growth of ZnSe lay ers on GaAs and Si substrates. For the growth on GaAs substrates we investi gated the effects of introducing buffer layers of AlxGa1-xAs and InxGa1-xAs . The characterization by reflection high-energy electron dif- fraction (RH EED), atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) , and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) showed that best ZnSe crystal qua lity was obtained on buffer layers of AlxGa1-xAs and InxGa1-xAs with x = 0. 01. Moreover, an analysis by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) reveale d that the use of AlGaAs buffer layers effectively suppresses the Ga segreg ation onto the ZnSe layer surfaces. On the other hand, for the growth of Zn Se on Si substrates, we achieved a significant improvement in the crystal q uality of ZnSe by irradiating the Si substrates with a plasma of nitrogen p rior to the MBE growth.