Heteroepitaxial growth of BeSe on vicinal Si(001) surfaces

Abstract

The growth of BeSe on vicinal Si(001) substrates has been investigated by molecular beam epitaxy. Reflection high energy electron diffraction was used to study the initial growth mode and the surface structure. Efforts have been done at the early steps of the growth in order to optimize the interface quality. Transmission electron microscopy revealed a BeSe layer relaxed with misfit dislocations and stacking faults that are mainly confined near the heterointerface. These results are promising in view of the growth of Zn0.55Be0.45Se alloy that is lattice matched to silicon. There will be many potential applications of this alloy—in the case of a direct band gap—in the frame of Si-based optoelectronic devices.