The role which was played by stacking faults in high-quality Zn(S,Se) heterostructures, and in Zn(S,Se)/(Cd,Zn)Se quantum-well structures on GaAs substrates, was studied. It was found that these stacking faults, which originated at the epilayer/substrate interface during the initial stages of growth, acted as sources of misfit dislocation formation in the quantum-well region of Zn(S,Se)/(Cd,Zn)Se-based devices. Cathodoluminescence microscopy showed that the stacking faults acted as non-radiative recombination centers which then reduced the luminescence of devices.

S.Guha, J.M.DePuydt, J.Qiu, G.E.Hofler, M.A.Haase, B.J.Wu, H.Cheng: Applied Physics Letters, 1993, 63[22], 3023-5