Optical characterization of Zn0.96 Be0.04 Se and Zn0.93 Mg0.07 Se mixed crystals

Abstract

A detailed optical characterization of Zn0.96 Be0.04 Se and Zn0.93 Mg0.07 Se mixed crystal samples grown by the modified high-pressure Bridgman method has been carried out via photoluminescence (PL), contactless electroreflectance (CER), and photoreflectance (PR) in the temperature range of 15-400 K. With these optical diagnostic tools we observed features originating from exciton emission, an edge emission due to recombination of shallow donor-acceptor pairs (DAPs), and a broad band related to recombination through deep-level defects, as well as band-edge and spin-orbit splitting critical points interband transitions in CER and PR experiments. The optical properties of these two mixed crystals are compared. Our comparative study revealed that the beneficial effect of beryllium (Be) incorporation is superior to that of magnesium (Mg), in the sense that a Be-containing ternary alloy resulted in better crystalline quality with more intense excitonic emission line and weaker DAPs and deep-level defect-related bands. The peak positions of the excitonic emission lines in the PL spectra correspond quite well to the energies of the fundamental transitions obtained by means of electromodulation spectra. The parameters that describe the temperature dependence of the fundamental and spin split-off band gaps, and the broadening function of the band-edge excitons, are evaluated and discussed. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.