Heteroepitaxial growth of wide gap p-type semiconductors: LnCuOCh (Lr=La, Pr and Nd; Ch=S or Se) by reactive solid-phase epitaxy

摘要

Heteroepitaxial thin films of Cu-based oxychalco-genides, LnCuOCh (Ln = La, Pr and Nd; Ch = mixture of S and Se), were fabricated and their resulting film structures were characterized. A reactive solid-phase epitaxy method successfully yielded heteroepitaxial films on MgO(001) substrates. A high-resolution electron microscopic examination of a LaCuOS film revealed a sharp film-substrate interface. Four-axes high-resolution X-ray diffraction measurements revealed that crystalline lattices in the films are fully relaxed and that the crystallographic orientation is (001)[110] LnCuOCh ‖ (001)[110] MgO. Furthermore, systematic variations in the lattice constant by lanthanide or chalcogen ion substitutions were observed.