Relaxation of misfit strain of chlorine-doped n-type ZnSxSe1-x epilayers grown on GaAs (100) substrates

Abstract

Atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selective area diffraction pattern and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) measurements were performed to investigate the microstructural properties of n-type Zn(x)sSe(1-x) epilayers grown on GaAs (100) substrates by using molecular-beam epitaxy. XRD and HRXRD patterns showed that the strain generated due to the lattice mismatch between the ZnSxSe1-x epilayers and the GaAs substrates might be fully relaxed due to the incorporation of S into the ZnSe. XRD, HRXRD, TEM and HRTEM results showed that stacking faults with a high density existed in the ZnSxSe1-x thin films due to the relaxation of the misfit strain resulting from the composition fluctuation of the S species.