CHARACTERIZATION OF HETEROEPITAXIAL ZNSE GROWN BY MBE ON GAAS, ALAS AND INGAAS

Low temperature photoluminescence is used to characterize residual strains in heteroepitaxial ZnSe grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Both homogeneous strain due to lattice mismatch and thermal mismatch and inhomogeneous strain associated with extended defects are observed. Bound exciton linewidths for pseudomorphic ZnSe grown on GaAs are substantially narrower (0.55 meV) than previously reported; further improvements are obtained for growth on thin AlAs buffers (0.37 meV) or thin InGaAs buffers (0.30 meV for 2.8% In). Growth on bulk In(x)Ga1-x(As) (x approximately 0.03) substrates reduces the exciton linewidths for thick, relaxed layers. Magnetospectroscopy of the acceptor-related peaks is described.