Abstract
Room-temperature synchrotron radiation photoemission studies of rare-earth/Hg1-xCdxTe(110) junctions were performed as a function of metal coverage for the rare-earth metals Sm, and Gd. These new results are compared to our previous results for Yb/Hg1-xCd xTe junctions. At low rare-earth metal coverages, we observe in all cases a rare-earth Te reaction which removes Hg and Cd from the interface region, and the three-dimensional island growth of a rare-earth telluride layer 4.0-4.5 monolayer thick. The most abrupt interface region is observed for Gd/Hg1-xCdxTe, in agreement with the more reactive character of this interface as compared to Yb/Hg1-xCdxTe and Sm/Hg1-xCdxTe. For higher rare-earth metal coverages, we observe the formation of a metallic rare-earth rich layer at the surface, which effectively traps Hg atoms diffusing across the interface through the formation of a rare-earth-Hg alloy.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1104-1112 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of Applied Physics |
Volume | 72 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 1 1992 |