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

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.