Photoluminescence study of the substitution of Cd by Zn during the growth by atomic layer epitaxy of alternate CdSe and ZnSe monolayers

We present a study of the substitution of Cd atoms by Zn atoms during the growth of alternate ZnSe and CdSe compound monolayers (ML) by atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) as a function of substrate temperature. Samples contained two quantum wells (QWs), each one made of alternate CdSe and ZnSe monolayers with total thickness of 12 ML but different growth parameters. The QWs were studied by low temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. We show that the Cd content of underlying CdSe layers is affected by the exposure of the quantum well film to the Zn flux during the growth of ZnSe monolayers. The amount of Cd of the quantum well film decreases with higher exposures to the Zn flux. A brief discussion about the difficulties to grow the Zn0.5Cd0.5Se ordered alloy (CuAu-I type) by ALE is presented.