Epitaxial Relationship Analysis Between ZnTe Epilayers and Sapphire Substrates

Zinc telluride (ZnTe) epilayers were grown on S-plane (10 1 ¯ 1) sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy, and the epitaxial relationships between the two were compared with data previously obtained for layers grown on c-plane (0001), m-plane (10 1 ¯ 0) substrates, and r-plane (1 1 ¯ 02). The crystallographic relationship between the (111) plane of the ZnTe layer and (0001) plane of the substrate was studied using x-ray diffraction pole figure measurements. It was confirmed that two kinds of {111} oriented domains were formed on the S-plane substrate, and the dominant domain was (111)-oriented. Layers grown on S-plane substrate and on m-plane substrate exhibited the same epitaxial relationship, while the epitaxial relationship of the layer grown on the c-plane substrate exhibited a 60° rotation. These findings would be applicable to control the orientation of ZnTe epilayer surface for various device applications and for various physical property characterizations.