Characterization of CdTe substrates and MOCVD Cd1-xZnxTe epilayers by Raman, photoluminescence and X-ray diffraction techniques

CdTe substrates and the quality of the Cd1-xZnxTe (x less than or equal to 0.1) epilayers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on CdTe substrates, are characterized by Raman scattering and photoluminescence (PL) as well as by X-ray double-crystal rocking curve (DCRC). At a low temperature the intensity of LO phonon is enhanced wherever there is a structural defect. The defect-induced enhancement is due to a large momentum transfer which enhances the intraband Frolich interaction. In addition, the bound exciton peak intensity measured by PL decreases wherever the LO phonon scattering efficiency increases confirming that the defect is the origin of the above Raman enhancement. The quantitative measure of the structural perfection is related to the ratio between the defect band and excitonic peaks in the PL spectra, and correlates with the X-ray full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the layer peak. It is shown that in addition to these parameters, the FWHM of the PL defect band is a useful parameter to determine the quality of the epilayer, and a good correlation is obtained between the different parameters. The effect of growth parameters such as zinc partial pressure in the reactor during growth and the reactor design are studied. The results indicate that crystalline imperfection is caused by lattice mismatch between the CdTe substrate and the CdZnTe epilayer and by the nonuniformity of the zinc composition throughout the layers. The quality of the layers is independent of the reactor volume. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.