A Comparison of (100) Hg sub (1-x) Cd sub x Te And Hg sub (1-x) Zn sub x Te Grown By Molecular Beam Epitaxy.

Films of HgCdTe with x = 0.6 and of HgZnTe with x = 0.25 have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Very high electron mobilities have been achieved for both materials in the small bandgap region. Hall mobilities at 77K reach 4.8x10 sup 5 cm sup 2 /V-s for Hg sub (0.82) Cd sub (0.18) Te, and 3.1x10 sup 5 cm sup 2 /V-s for Hg sub (0.87) Zn sub (0.13) Te. HgCdTe growth was easily extended to the 1.5 - 3micron wavelength range. Attempts to extend HgZnTe to these bandgaps were unsuccessful due to defects that are induced by surface roughness in high Zn-content films. These results suggest that HgCdTe is the more suitable material for MBE growth for near infrared applications.