Study of the Effect of Various Chemical Polishing Treatments on MBE-Grown CdTe/GaAs (211)B Heterostructures

A three-inch-diameter high quality CdTe thin film was grown on a GaAs (211)B substrate by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) in ultra-high vacuum conditions. The CdTe/GaAs (211)B heterostructure was then cut into several sample pieces. A few as-grown sample pieces were subjected to chemical etching solutions which created etch pits on the surface. The scanning electron microscopy images of such samples were used to calculate the etch pit densities on the surface. In addition, several as-grown samples were subjected to chemical polishing treatments under different conditions to quantify the removal of O and Te-O structures from the surface. Atomic force microscopy was used to determine as-grown and polished surface morphology and the polish rate of chemical solutions. A study of the surface stoichiometry and the chemical composition of the as-grown and polished CdTe (211)B surfaces were carried out by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Bulk structural qualities of the as-grown and polished samples were studied in terms of the vibrational and phonon modes via confocal Raman spectroscopy. From a comparative analyses of the results, the best chemical polishing conditions for the MBE-grown CdTe (211)B heterostructure were determined.