Role of stacking faults as misfit dislocation sources and nonradiative recombination centers in II-VI heterostructures and devices

• Published in: Applied physics letters 1993-11, Vol.63 (22), p.3023-3025
• Main Authors: GUHA, S, DEPUYDT, J. M, QIU, J, HOFLER, G. E, HAASE, M. A, WU, B. J, CHENG, H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Defects and impurities in crystals; microstructure; Exact sciences and technology; Low-dimensional structures (superlattices, quantum well structures, multilayers): structure, and nonelectronic properties; Physics; Stacking faults and other planar or extended defects; Structure of solids and liquids; crystallography; Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties)
• ISSN: 0003-6951; 1077-3118
• DOI: 10.1063/1.110246

We have investigated the role of stacking faults in high quality ZnSxSe1−x heterostructures and a ZnSxSe1−x/CdxZn1−xSe based II-VI blue-green quantum well laser structure grown on GaAs substrates. We find that these stacking faults, which originate at the epilayer/substrate interface during the initial stages of the growth, act as sources for misfit dislocation formation in the quantum well region of ZnSxSe1−x/CdxZn1−xSe based devices. We have analyzed the formation mechanism of these dislocations. We also show through cathodoluminescence microscopy that these stacking faults act as nonradiative recombination centers which therefore reduce the luminescence of these devices.