Critical thickness in epitaxial CdTe/ZnTe

Abstract

The critical thickness for coherent growth of CdTe on ZnTe by molecular beam epitaxy is assessed by reflection high-energy electron diffraction, low-temperature photoluminescence, and transmission electron microscopy. The value is found to be 5 monolayers for this high mismatch system (6%). As opposed to similar studies on III-V and Si-Ge systems, there is no evidence of island formation before relaxation by dislocations at the interface.