Epitaxial CuInSe2 thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy and migration enhanced epitaxy

•High-quality epitaxial CuInSe2 films obtained by migration enhanced epitaxy.•Materials quality compared to regular molecular beam epitaxy films.•Comprehensive materials characterization of samples grown at various substrate temperatures. While CuInSe2 chalcopyrite materials are mainly used in their polycrystalline form to prepare thin film solar cells, epitaxial layers have been used for the characterization of defects. Typically, epitaxial layers are grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy or molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Here we present epitaxial layers grown by migration enhanced epitaxy (MEE) and compare the materials quality to MBE grown layers. CuInSe2 layers were grown on GaAs (001) substrates by co-evaporation of Cu, In, and Se using substrate temperatures of 450°C, 530°C, and 620°C. The layers were characterized by high resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Raman spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). HR-XRD and HR-TEM show a better crystalline quality of the MEE grown layers, and Raman scattering measurements confirm single phase CuInSe2. AFM shows the previously observed faceting of the (001) surface into {112} facets with trenches formed along the [110] direction. The surface of MEE-grown samples appears smoother compared to MBE-grown samples, a similar trend is observed with increasing growth temperature.