Atomic layer epitaxy and molecular beam epitaxy of CdTe/MnTe superlattices: A structural and optical study

Atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) is investigated together with conventional molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) for the growth of CdTe/MnTe superlattices. A systematic structural and magneto-optical study demonstrates that: (i) all Mn atoms incident on the surface get incorporated; however, when a quantity superior or equal to 1 monolayer of Mn is sent onto the surface per ALE cycle, the growth front roughens, leading to the formation of MnTe islands, (ii) optimized atomic layer epitaxy allows us to obtain at 280 degrees C CdTe/ MnTe superlattices with a better control than in conventional MBE, but does not prevent the exchange between Cd and Mn atoms from occurring at the interfaces, (iii) low temperature ALE (200 degrees C and lower) seems to be a promising way of obtaining more abrupt interfaces. A precise value of the ratio of the elastic coefficients 2c(12)/c(11) is otherwise inferred through this study for zincblende MnTe (1.12). (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(98)06020-4].