Elastic strain effects dependence on the energy band gaps and the lattice parameters in CdTe epitaxial layers on GaAs (100) substrates grown by hot wall epitaxy

Electrolyte electroreflectance spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements on CdTe/GaAs strained heterostructures grown by hot wall epitaxy were carried out to investigate the effect of the elastic strain dependence on the energy band gaps and the lattice parameters. Biaxial compressive strains existed in CdTe layers thinner than 3 μm. This critical thickness was the smallest value for any CdTe/GaAs heterostructures previously grown by hot wall epitaxy. The results from electrolyte electroreflectance spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction were in good qualitative agreement with each other.