We have grown MgS bp MBE in the zinc blende crystal structure on GaAs(1 0 0
) substrates using a novel technique where the sources are Mg and ZnS. Laye
rs up to 134 nm thick have been grown without any degradation in the crysta
l structure. The lattice constant was found to be 0.5619 +/- 0.0001 run ant
i Poisson's ratio was estimated to be 0.425. PL and reflection spectra obta
ined from ZnSe quantum wells showed sharp signals indicating less than 1 hi
t fluctuations on the well widths. A binding energy of 43.9 meV has been ob
tained from excitons confined in a 5 nm wide ZnSe well. (C) 2001 Elsevier S
cience B.V. All rights reserved.