Growth habit of rhombohedral Bi thin films on zinc-blende CdTe substrates with various orientations

Rhombohedral Bi thin films have been grown on zinc-blende (111), (211) and (100) CdTe substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction patterns showed that Bi grew layer-by-layer on the CdTe substrates without any reconstruction. X-ray diffraction theta-2 theta scans revealed that the Bi films grown on (111) CdTe are (00.l) oriented and that the Bi films on (100) CdTe are (10.4) oriented. X-ray pole figures from the Bi films and the CdTe substrates indicated that Bi (00.l) on (211) CdTe grew along the CdTe (111) direction, like in the case of the Bi films on (111) CdTe. Most Bi grains on (100) CdTe select one particular direction out of the four possible directions in the presence of an off-axis tilt relative to the (100) substrate surface normal. (C) 1999 American Vacuum Society. [S0734-2101(99)00306-1].