Carrier lifetimes and interface recombination velocities in CdTe/Mg<i>x</i>Cd1−<i>x</i>Te double heterostructures with different Mg compositions grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract

The interface recombination velocities of CdTe/MgxCd1−xTe double heterostructure (DH) samples with different CdTe layer thicknesses and Mg compositions are studied using time-resolved photoluminescence measurements. A lowest interface recombination velocity of 30 ± 10 cm/s has been measured for the CdTe/Mg0.46Cd0.54Te interface, and a longest carrier lifetime of 0.83 μs has been observed for the studied DHs. These values are very close to the best reported numbers for GaAs/AlGaAs DHs. The impact of carrier escape through thermionic emission over the MgCdTe barrier on the recombination process in the DHs is also studied.