Surface defects induced by impurities in MBE-grown HgCdTe

Surface defects of molecular beam epitaxially grown HgCdTe are the major concern in developing large format infrared focal plane arrays. Voids were usually observed on the HgCdTe surfaces as previously reported, they were originated either from the improper substrates preparation or from the growth condition. However, the defects formation with impurities has not been addressed. This paper presents our recent observation on defects induced by the impurities involved in the mercury beam fluxes. These defects can be craters or bumps, having a spatially clustering feature. To identify the origin of these kinds of defects, experiments were performed on HgCdTe as well as CdTe with mercury flux, and the defects were observed and analyzed by using SEM and EDAX. The result, for the first time, confirmed that impurities in the mercury beam were responsible to the formation of surface defects.