High-Resolution X-Ray Diffraction Studies on MBE-Grown p-ZnTe/n-CdTe Heterojunctions for Solar Cell Applications

• Authors: K. Wichrowska , J. Domagala , T. Wosinski , S. Chusnutdinow , G. Karczewski
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

High-resolution X-ray diffractometer was used to study structural quality, lattice parameters and misfit strain in p-ZnTe/n-CdTe heterojunctions grown by the molecular-beam epitaxy technique on two different (001)-oriented substrates of GaAs and CdTe. The X-ray diffractometer results indicate that the CdTe layers, grown on lattice mismatched GaAs substrate, are partially relaxed, by the formation of misfit dislocations at the interface, and display residual vertical strain of the order of 10^{-4}. The presence of threading dislocations in the layers effectively limits the efficiency of solar energy conversion in the investigated heterojunctions. Homoepitaxially grown CdTe layers, of much better structural quality, display unexpected compressive strain in the layers and the relaxed lattice parameter larger than that of the substrate. Possible reasons for the formation of that unusual strain are discussed.

Keywords

EN

61.05.cp; 81.05.Dz; 81.15.Hi; 88.40.jm

Discipline

• 88.40.jm: Thin film III-V and II-VI based solar cells
• 81.15.Hi: Molecular, atomic, ion, and chemical beam epitaxy
• 61.05.cp: X-ray diffraction
• 81.05.Dz: II-VI semiconductors

• Journal: Acta Physica Polonica A
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 126
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 1083-1086

Dates

published

2014-11

Contributors

author

K. Wichrowska

• Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warszawa, Poland

author

J. Domagala

• Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warszawa, Poland

author

T. Wosinski

• Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warszawa, Poland

author

S. Chusnutdinow

• Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warszawa, Poland

author

G. Karczewski

• Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warszawa, Poland

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Identifiers

DOI

10.12693/APhysPolA.126.1083