Structural characterization of ZnTe grown by atomic-layer-deposition regime on GaAs and GaSb (100) oriented substrates¹

This work presents the characterization of ZnTe nanolayers grown on GaAs and GaSb (100) substrates by the Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) regime. Under certain conditions, the alternating exposition of a substrate surface to the element vapours makes possible the growth of atomic layers in a reactor where the atmosphere is high-purity hydrogen. ZnTe was grown simultaneously on GaAs and GaSb at the same run, allowing, a comparison between the effects produced by the superficial processes due to the different used substrates, thereby eliminating possible unintended changes of growth parameters. Nanolayers on GaSb maintained their shiny appearance even at temperatures near 420°C. It was found that for exposure times below 2.5 s there was not growth on GaAs, while for GaSb the shortest time was 1.5 s at 385°C. By HRXRD the peak corresponding to (004) diffraction plane of ZnTe was identified and investigated, the FWHM resulted very wide (600-800 arcsec) indicating a highly distorted lattice mainly due to mosaicity. Raman scattering shows the peak corresponding to LO-ZnTe, which is weak and slightly shifted in comparison with the reported for the bulk ZnTe at 210 cm^-1. Additionally, the measurements suggest that the crystalline quality have a dependence with the growth temperature.