Germanium Saturated with Gallium Antimonide

Single crystals of Ge saturated with GaSb were prepared by temperature gradient zone melting at 750°C. Electron probe microanalysis indicated 4.83×10^20 Ga atoms and 2.36×10^20 Sb atoms/cc in the saturated material with an estimated error of about 10%. Thus the solubility of Sb is greatly enhanced by the presence of Ga, though the reverse is not true. Hall measurements were in semiquantitative agreement with the chemical concentration measurements and indicated that carrier mobility is not much affected by the presence of the compensating impurity

Electrical determination of the valence-band discontinuity in HgTe-CdTe heterojunctions

Current-voltage behavior is studied experimentally in a Hg0.78Cd0.22Te-CdTe-Hg0.78Cd0.22Te heterostructure grown by molecular beam epitaxy. At temperatures above 160 K, energy-band diagrams suggest that the dominant low-bias current is thermionic hole emission across the CdTe barrier layer. This interpretation yields a direct determination of 390±75 meV for the HgTe-CdTe valence-band discontinuity at 300 K. Similar analyses of current-voltage data taken at 190–300 K suggest that the valence-band offset decreases at low temperatures in this heterojunction

Growth and characterization of ZnTe films grown on GaAs, InAs, GaSb, and ZnTe

We report the successful growth of ZnTe on nearly lattice-matched III-V buffer layers of InAs (0.75%), GaSb (0.15%), and on GaAs and ZnTe by molecular beam epitaxy. In situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction measurements showed the characteristic streak patterns indicative of two-dimensional growth. Photoluminescence measurements on these films show strong and sharp features near the band edge with no detectable luminescence at longer wavelengths. The integrated photoluminescence intensity from the ZnTe layers increased with better lattice match to the buffer layer. The ZnTe epilayers grown on high-purity ZnTe substrates exhibited stronger luminescence than the substrates. We observe narrow luminescence linewidths (full width at half maximum ~ 1–2 Å) indicative of uniform high quality growth. Secondary-ion mass spectroscopy and electron microprobe measurements, however, reveal substantial outdiffusion of Ga and In for growths on the III-V buffer layers

Crystallization of Ge and Si in metal films. II

Heat treatment of evaporated Si in contact with Ag films and Ge in contact with Al films results in the formation of precipitates of the semiconductor in a metal matrix. The structure of these precipitates was studied by transmission electron microscopy and diffraction (TEMD) and MeV 4He ion channeling techniques. TEMD studies showed that the semiconductor precipitates were crystalline in nature. Channeling techniques showed that the crystallites did not have a simple orientation relationship with the underlying single-crystal substrate

Interfacial reactions and band offsets in the AlSb/GaSb/ZnTe material system

We have used x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to measure valence-band offsets in situ for AlSb/ZnTe, AlSb/GaSb, and GaSb/ZnTe(100) heterojunctions grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. For the AlSb/ZnTe heterojunction, a valence-band offset ΔEv=0.42±0.07 eV was obtained. Our data indicated that an intermediate compound, containing Al and Te, was formed at the AlSb/ZnTe(100) interface. Measurements of the AlSb/GaSb and GaSb/ZnTe valence-band offsets demonstrated a clear violation of band offset transitivity for the AlSb/GaSb/ZnTe material system, suggesting that chemical reactivity at the AlSb/ZnTe and GaSb/ZnTe interfaces can exert a significant influence on band offset values. Direct evidence of the influence of interfacial growth conditions on the AlSb/ZnTe and GaSb/ZnTe band offset values was also observed

Measurement of the valence band offset in novel heterojunction systems: Si/Ge (100) and AlSb/ZnTe (100)

We have used x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to measure the valence band offset in situ for strained Si/Ge (100) heterojunctions and for AlSb/ZnTe (100) heterojunctions grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. For the Si/Ge system, Si 2p and Ge 3d core level to valence band edge binding energies and Si 2p to Ge 3d core level energy separations were measured as functions of strain, and strain configurations in all samples were determined using x-ray diffraction. Our measurements yield valence band offset values of 0.83±0.11 eV and 0.22±0.13 eV for Ge on Si (100) and Si on Ge (100), respectively. If we assume that the offset between the weighted averages of the light-hole, heavy-hole, and spin-orbit valence bands in Si and Ge is independent of strain, we obtain a discontinuity in the average valence band edge of 0.49±0.13 eV. For the AlSb/ZnTe (100) heterojunction system, we obtain a value of –0.42±0.07 eV for the valence band offset. Our data also suggest that an intermediate compound, containing Al and Te, is formed at the AlSb/ZnTe (100) interface