The growth of high-quality CdTe (211)B layers onto nominal Si(211) substrates, by means of molecular beam epitaxy, was described. Before CdTe deposition, thin ZnTe(211)B buffer layers were grown in order to preserve the homo-orientation. Large-area CdTe (211)B layers could be routinely obtained by optimizing the growth parameters. By using X-ray diffraction techniques, the presence of twin-free CdTe (211)B layers was demonstrated. In particular, one 8μ-thick CdTe epilayer had a near-surface etch-pit density of 1.5 x 105/cm2. This exceeded the best reported value for CdTe (211)B, as grown onto GaAs (211)B, GaAs/Si(211) or Si(211) substrates.

S.Rujirawat, L.A.Almeida, Y.P.Chen, S.Sivananthan, D.J.Smith: Applied Physics Letters, 1997, 71[13], 1810-2