Epitaxial growth and optical investigations of ZnTeO alloys

We have grown zincblende‐structured ZnTeO alloy semiconductors on GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy using RF‐excited O. O concentrations measured by secondary ion mass spectroscopy were found to increase with the increase of O 2 flow rate supplied during the growth, while the change of lattice constant measured by X‐ray diffraction does not follow Vegard's law. It is considered that the O atoms are incorporated not only into group‐VI sites but also as interstitials. Formation of other compounds such as ZnTeO 3 , Zn 2 Te 3 O 8 , and TeO 2 was not detected. Optical reflectance spectroscopy revealed the increase of the band‐gap energy with O concentration that can be interpreted as the repulsive interaction between the energy states originated in the localized states of O and the conduction‐band edge of host ZnTe. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)