Effect of hydrostatic pressure on degradation of CdTe/CdMgTe heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs substrates.

We have shown that external hydrostatic pressure leads to the creation of structural defects, mainly in the vicinity of the II-VI/GaAs interface in the CdTe/Cd[sub 1-x]Mg[sub x]Te heterostructures grown by the molecular beam epitaxy method on GaAs substrates. These defects propagating across the epilayer cause permanent damage to the samples from the point of view of their electrical properties. In contrast, photoluminescence spectra are only weakly influenced by pressure. Our results shed light on the degradation process observed even without pressure in II-VI-based heterostructures. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]