Effect of substrate misorientation on surface morphology of homoepitaxial CdTe films grown by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy

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Abstract
The effect of substrate misorientation on surface morphology of CdTe homoepitaxial films deposited by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy was investigated by deposition onto a substrate polished in the shape of a spherical cap that exposed misorientations up to 15° from the [100] pole. Hillock formation was suppressed for misorientations between 2.5° and 4.5° from the [100] pole towards the nearest {111} Te planes, whereas tilt towards the nearest {111}Cd planes resulted in only a slight improvement in surface morphology. A commonly used direction for misorienting substrates, towards the nearest {110} planes, reduced the size and density of the hillocks but did not completely suppress their formation. Double-crystal x-ray rocking curves indicated that high crystalline quality was obtained near the (100) plane, and that misorientations towards the nearest {111}Te planes did not significantly degrade the quality. Arguments have been developed to rationalize these observations.