Vapour phase epitaxy of II–VI compounds: A review

This paper is mainly concerned with a critical review of the present situation in the field of vapour phase epitaxy of II–VI compounds. LPE-methods have been less successful. Single-crystal films have been grown by vacuum deposition, sublimation, chemical transport and chemical vapour deposition (including metalorganic-hydride processes). Remarkable results h have been obtained with the close-spaced technique and the chemical vapour deposition methods. The following topics from the point of view of the most suitable operating conditions for epitaxy will be discussed: preparation of substrates and source materials, chemical equilibria and material transport, supersaturation in the growth zone and growth temperature. The compounds ZnS, ZnSe, ZnTe exhibit systematic connections for the material transport, orientation dependence of growth rates and the crystal structures. Considerable interest is shown in the epitaxy of II–VI compounds, because of interesting properties with regard to opto-electronic applications, as in electro-optic information storage devices, light emitting diodes and electroluminescent displays.