Defect reduction in Hg1-xCdxTe grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Cd0.96Zn0.04Te(211)B

A study on preparation of Cd0.96Zn0.04Te(211)B substrates for growth of Hg1 -xCdxTe epitaxial layers by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) was investigated. The objective was to investigate the impact of starting substrate surface q uality on surface defects such as voids and hillocks commonly observed on M BE Hg1-xCdxTe layers. The results of this study indicate that, when the Cd0 .96Zn0.04Te(211)B substrates are properly prepared, surface defects on the resulting MBE Hg1-xCdxTe films are reduced to minimum (size similar to0.1 m um and density similar to 500/cm(2)), so that these MBE Hg1-xCdxTe films ha ve surface quality as good as that of liquid phase epitaxial (LPE) Hg1-xCdx Te films currently in production in this laboratory.