Vapor and solid phase epitaxies of ZnSe films on (100)GaAs using metallic Zn and Se

Low temperature growth of ZnSe layers on (100)GaAs substrates has been performed from the vapor phase using metallic Zn and metallic Se as source materials. Before deposition, the substrate was thermally etched in an H 2 flow at 500 or 550°C for 5 min. Epitaxial growth was successful above 230°C. An activation energy of 10 kcal/mol was obtained for the deposition process. Films grown at 400°C showed low resistivity (on the order of 1 Ω·cm) when the flow rates of Zn and Se were almost the same. Solid phase epitaxy (SPE) occurred at 400°C for the micro-crystalline films deposited at 180–220°C on a thermally etched substrate.