Low-temperature photo-hydro-modification of II–VI and III–V semiconductors

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 103; no. 2; pp. 141 - 148
• Main Authors: Kamuz, A.M., Oleksenko, P.F., Ovsyannikov, E.Yu, Sizov, F.F., Dyachenko, T.A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.10.1996; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Exact sciences and technology; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of bulk materials and thin films; Physics; Diffraction efficiency; Gallium arsenides; Inorganic compounds; Cadmium sulfides; Cluster; Binary compounds; Experimental study; II-VI semiconductors; Cadmium tellurides; Optical properties; Gratings; Subsurface; III-V semiconductors
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/0169-4332(96)00111-0

The purpose of this paper was the investigation of a photostimulated modification of optical properties of semiconductors subsurface region, to create elements and devices of integrated optics. The experiments have been carried out in II–VI (CdS, CdTe) and III–V (GaAs) semiconductor single crystals. It was shown that during the photostimulated process the enriching of cadmium occurs in the subsurface region of, e.g., CdS single crystals, and thus, the complex refractive index is strongly changed. For the first time this phenomenon was detected and investigated in CdS single crystals [1,2] and was named low temperature photo-hydromodification (LTPHM) method. In this paper the LTPHM-phenomenon was shown to take place in GaAs and CdTe single crystals too. It was theoretically shown that the subsurface region refractive index changes take place due to an increase of clusters concentration, consisting of interstitial atoms. Clusters change their forms during the LTPHM-process.