Thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of the anion vacancy self-compensation of p-type layers in the compound semiconductor were considered. Thermodynamic considerations indicated that p-type ZnSe layers were thermodynamically unstable, with respect to anion-vacancy self-compensation. Thus, if ZnSe compound semiconductor devices with p-type layers were to exhibit long-term stability, it was important that kinetic barriers should be established which precluded the supply of anion vacancies to the p-type layer. Kinetic strategies for minimizing anion-vacancy self-compensation included the growth of p-type layers which were free of grain boundaries and dislocations, the positioning of p-type layers far from surfaces, and the embedding of p-type layers into heavily n-doped regions.

J.F.Wager: Philosophical Magazine A, 1993, 67[4], 897-904