Selective-area epitaxy of CdTe on CdTe/ZnTe/Si(211) through a nanopatterned silicon nitride mask

S. Fahey, R. Bommena, R. Kodama, R. Sporken, S. Sivananthan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We report here the use of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to achieve selectivearea epitaxy (SAE) and coalescence of CdTe on nanopatterned substrates with 0.5-μm-pitch arrays of CdTe/ZnTe/Si(211) seeding areas, exposed through a silicon nitride mask. The nanopatterned substrate surface morphology, crystallinity, and chemical composition were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) both before and after exposure to CdTe flux by MBE. We find a seven times wider (422) CdTe XRD rocking curve full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) for our patterned samples, when directly compared with unpatterned samples with identical growth and pregrowth conditions. We also observe that electron beam-induced carbon deposits can serve as a mask material for SAE of CdTe by MBE. Finally, we point to possible further improvements in patterned sample architectures of the future, for use in CdTe films on Si.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2899-2907
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Electronic Materials
Volume41
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2012

Keywords

  • Cadmium telluride
  • Coalescence
  • Molecular beam epitaxy
  • Nanopattern
  • Selective-area epitaxy
  • Silicon nitride

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