Native oxide emerging of the cleavage surface of gallium selenide due to prolonged storage.

The crystal structure and surface morphology of native oxide emerging on the surface of the (0001) cleavage of undoped and Cd-doped or Dy-doped single crystals of layered GaSe due to prolonged storage in air are studied. The factors that lead to the differences in the outward appearance of oxide films on the surface of undoped (dull surface) and doped samples (transparent films) are analyzed. The results of studies of electrical properties of the 〈gallium selenide〉-〈native oxide〉 systems are reported. It is shown that the films of native oxide on the GaSe surface feature current instability with an N-like current-voltage characteristic. Attention is paid to low values of effective permittivity of native oxide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]