Low-temperature cathodoluminescence spectroscopic studies were made of zincblende-structured ZnCdSe epilayers which had been grown onto InP by metalorganic chemical vapor phase deposition at temperatures of 360, 400 or 440C. Both near-bandgap and deep-level emissions were found for samples which had been grown at 400C and above, but deep-level emissions were absent from samples which had been grown at 360C. It was concluded that the growth temperature should be kept below the temperature at which InP began to decompose, and diffusion of III-V constituents into the epilayer occurred. Evidence of such diffusion came from analyses of depth-resolved cathodoluminescence data, which showed that the deep-level emissions occurred mainly at the epilayer/substrate interface. In-diffusion from the substrate to the epilayer was considered to be the most likely source of these deep levels.

Depth-resolved cathodoluminescence study of ZnxCd1-xSe epilayer grown on (001)InP X.B.Zhang, H.K.Wong, S.K.Hark: Applied Physics Letters, 1998, 73[22], 3238-40