A study was made of II-VI/(001)GaAs heterostructures which exhibited a strong micro-twin anisotropy under conditions of tensile and compressive strain. Epitaxial ZnS/GaAs, (Cd,Zn)Te/GaAs and (Cd,Zn)S/GaAs exhibited micro-twins only in the [110] projection, when far from the interface. This indicated that a growth model was most appropriate for the description of micro-twin propagation in these cases. Profile imaging was used to examine the first stages of twinning in (Hg,Mn)Te. It was noted that it was important to take account of interface integrity when attempting to distinguish between growth-induced and deformation-induced micro-twinning processes.

P.D.Brown, Y.Y.Loginov, W.M.Stobbs, C.J.Humphreys: Philosophical Magazine A, 1995, 72[1], 39-57