Valence band offset determination of CdSeTe and CdMgTe alloys with CdTe using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy

Abstract A limited series of uniform composition CdSeTe alloys and a CdMgTe alloy were grown via molecular beam epitaxy and measured with x-ray photoemission spectroscopy to determine valence band offsets (VBO) with CdTe. We present an alternative to the Kraut method for VBO determination in ternary alloy systems, which does not require determination of the valence band maxima, often a significant source of error in VBO determination. VBOs determined using two different etching sources agreed well with temperature dependent current-voltage data as well as with recent theoretical work, and a linear fit of the VBO data presented here predicts a VBO between CdTe/CdSe a factor two to three times smaller than previously reported.