Growth of bulk ZnSe crystals : Recent Developments

Starting with a historical review and a general comparison of growth methods, the paper deals with the seeded vapour growth of substrate-quality ZnSe crystals. Under optimized growth conditions, in contrast to the growth from the melt, in SPVT and SCVT (seeded physical and chemical vapour transport) twin-free single crystals are prepared. The dislocation density decreases down to 10 4 cm 2 in growth direction away from the seed transition region. SPVT-grown crystals are the better ones with respect to optical properties showing exciton luminescence and decreasing deep level emission. For the application in homoepitaxy, the SCVT-grown crystals with lowest defect densities seem to be superior.