Growth of ZnTe epilayers on r- and n-plane sapphire substrates

ZnTe epilayers were grown on r-plane (11¯02) and n-plane (112¯3) sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. The ZnTe domain distribution in the layer and the influence of the substrates' c-plane location on the orientation of the epilayer were studied by means of X-ray diffraction pole figure measurements. Computer simulation was used to analyze the diffraction patterns. The (100)-plane ZnTe was formed on the r-plane substrate whereas two different {111}-plane mixed with the (511) domain were formed on n-plane substrate, respectively. The orientation of ZnTe layers on r-plane sapphire substrates could not change even by varying the buffer layer growth condition. From these results, it was revealed that the relationship of the sapphire c-plane and the (111) ZnTe strongly affected the orientation of the film. ZnTe layers grown on n-plane sapphire substrates, on the other hand, exhibited different relationships and (111) of ZnTe was not aligned to the sapphire c-plane.