Molecular Beam Epitaxy of IV-VI Compounds

Binary lead chalcogenides PbS, PbSe, and PbTe, frequently called 'lead salts,' are the major IV-VI MBE materials. These narrow gap semiconductors are used for infrared detectors, lasers, and thermoelectric devices. Ternary and quaternary materials include chalcogenides, for example cadmium, europium, strontium, and tin. By substitution of lead the band gap energy can be varied from zero to 0.65 eV. Growth on (100)-oriented IV-VI-substrates and heteroepitaxial growth on (111) oriented substrates like BaF2, Si, and on V-IV materials is performed for quantum well, quantum dot, and superlattice structures. Infrared buried heterostructure lasers, photodiode arrays, VCSEL and LEDs are fabricated.