In situ ellipsometric monitoring of composition and temperature of HgCdTe layers during their growth

Abstract

An ellipsometric technique has been developed which makes it possible to observe changes in the composition and temperature of cadmium--mercury--tellurium layers during their growing by molecular beam epitaxy. The technique was tested for diagnostics the variations of the composition and the temperature during layer growth in the mode of constant power of the substrate heater and with its sharp change. It was found that the drop in power and a following decrease in the growth temperature were also accompanied by a monotonic decrease in the composition. In the case of a constant heater power, a slight increase in the sample temperature was observed with an almost unchanged composition of the growing layer. Keywords: ellipsometry, mercury--cadmium--telluride, in situ control, epitaxial growth, temperature.