Abstract
We present for the first time a detailed investigation of the growth of ZnTe layers deposited on GaAs substrates by low pressure metalorganic vapour-phase epitaxy using the new triethylamine dimethyl zinc adduct in combination with diisopropyl telluride as zinc and tellurium precursors respectively. The influence of the growth temperature (T(g)), the VI/II molar ratio, and the overall growth pressure (P) are studied. The successful growth of ZnTe is demonstrated at temperatures as low as 300-degrees-C. For growth temperatures ranging between 300 and 450-degrees-C, the growth rate is limited by the kinetics at the growing interface, and we measure an activation energy of 28 kcal/mol. At T(g) = 375-degrees-C, we found a linear variation of the growth rate with the overall growth pressure on the one hand, and with both zinc and telluride molar flows on the other hand. Low temperature reflectance and photoluminescence measurements were performed to characterize all the samples and are used to determine the optimal growth conditions: T(g) = 350-degrees-C, VI/II = 2, with P = 40 Torr. The stress experienced by the epilayers is investigated using the reflectance measurements. The relative intensity of the arsenic related bound exciton emission at 2.367 eV decreases as T(g) decreases. On the other hand, the I(b)1 unknown acceptor related bound exciton emission at 2.356 eV decreases linearly with the growth rate.