Epitaxial Hg1−xCdxTe growth by low-temperature metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

We report the first low-temperature metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of Hg1−xCdxTe using a thermal precracking technique. The precracking technique enables one to grow epitaxial Hg1−xCdxTe on CdTe substrates at temperatures as low as 225 °C. The growth rate is 1–2 μm/h. The film is epitaxial and has good morphology. The Hg1−xCdxTe epilayer also shows infrared transmission with a sharp cut-off edge. The Hg0.7Cd0.3Te material is n type and has a room-temperature mobility of 12 200 cm2/V s with carrier concentration of 2.7×1017 cm−3 and 77 K mobility of 27 000 cm2/V s with carrier concentration of 1.0×1017 cm−3. This low-temperature precracking technique offers the feasibility of fabricating structures with sharp heterojunctions for Hg1−xCdxTe compounds by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition.