Molecular beam epitaxial growth of (100) oriented CdTe on Si (100) using BaF2-CaF2 as a buffer

Epitaxial CdTe (100) has been grown on (100) oriented Si by molecular beam epitaxy using BaF2-CaF2 as a buffer. Two-dimensional (2-D) growth of BaF2(100) is obtained using low-temperature thermal cycles during growth. CdTe growth is also 2-D above 270 °C substrate temperature and a 2×1 surface reconstruction indicating a Te-stabilized surface is obtained. The growth is 3-D at lower substrate temperatures. Good structural quality films showing sharp electron channeling patterns and pronounced photoluminescence at 77 K are obtained. The full width at half maximum of the band-edge peak is 12 meV at 77 K.