Dielectric functions and carrier concentrations of Hg1−xCdxSe films determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry

Spectroscopic ellipsometry, ranging from 35 meV to 6 eV, was used to determine the dielectric functions of a series of molecular beam epitaxy-grown Hg1−xCdxSe thin films deposited on both ZnTe/Si(112) and GaSb(112) substrates. The fundamental band gap as well as two higher-order electronic transitions blue-shift with increasing Cd composition in Hg1−xCdxSe, as expected. Representing the free carrier absorption with a Drude oscillator, we found that the effective masses of Hg1−xCdxSe (grown on ZnTe/Si) vary between 0.028 and 0.050 times the free electron mass, calculated using the values of carrier concentration and the mobility obtained through Hall measurements. Using these effective masses, we determined the carrier concentrations of Hg1−xCdxSe samples grown on GaSb, which is of significance as films grown on such doped-substrates posit ambiguous results when measured by conventional Hall experiments. These models can serve as a basis for monitoring Cd-composition during sample growth through in-situ sp...