SURFACE STRAIN DURING HOMOEPITAXY : GROWTH AND ION ABLATION OF CDTE

Oscillations of the surface lattice parameter were observed by RHEED during the homoepitaxial growth of (001) CdTe by Molecular Beam Epitaxy and Atomic Layer Epitaxy. The oscillations are associated to a deformation, induced by the surface reconstructions, at the free edges of the small 2D islands formed during the growth. In the same way, a lateral relaxation is measured during the layer by layer `de-growth' of (001) CdTe. Experiments using a CCD X-ray sensitive camera combined with the very bright X-ray beam offered by the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility allowed us to investigate the two layer behavior of the CdTe surface in real time during the ablation by ion sputtering. The results show a relaxation mechanism which is effective only when islands are present on the surface. A correlation has been found between the size of the islands, their distribution, and the surface reconstruction. Particularly, a long- distance correlation between islands along the [1,-1,0] direction has been observed.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.