Semiconductors

Critical thickness and stresses of HgTe layers on Hg$_x$Cd$_{1-x}$Te substrates

S. A. Dvoretskii^a, N. N. Mikhailov^a, R. V. Menshikov^a, V. I. Okulov^b, T. E. Govorkova<sup>b

a</sup> Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia
^b Institute of Metal Physics, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg, Russia

Abstract: The calculation of the critical thickness of the pseudomorphic layer and the mechanical stresses of HgTe on (013) Hg$_x$Cd$_{1-x}$Te substrates at growth temperatures of 120, 150 and 180$^\circ$C for two dislocation sliding systems was carried out. It was found that the critical thickness of HgTe varies from 40–60 to 1200–1800 nm with a change in x from 0 to 0.9. Mechanical stresses due to the mismatch of the lattice parameters of the HgTe/Hg$_x$Cd$_{1-x}$Te heteroparticle vary in the range from 6 to 125 MPa with a change in x and weakly depend on temperature. Mechanical stresses during cooling due to the discrepancy between the coefficients of thermal expansion ranged from -1 to -7 MPa. These results make it possible to predict mechanical stresses in various instrument structures based on the HgTe/Hg$_x$Cd$_{1-x}$Te heteropair.

Keywords: critical thickness, stresses, composition, HgTe, Hg$_x$Cd$_{1-x}$Te, lattice parameter, coefficient of thermal expansion.

Received: 25.01.2024
Revised: 25.01.2024
Accepted: 26.01.2024

DOI: 10.61011/FTT.2024.02.57244.9

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