Defect-related emission in CdS films grown directly on hydrogen-terminated Si(111) substrates

Defect-related emission at 2.451 eV in epitaxial CdS films on Si(111) substrates was observed for the first time in low-temperatures photoluminescence spectra. Temperature and excitation intensity dependence of the defect-related emission were measured to examine its emission mechanism. It was shown that this defect-related emission in CdS hetero-epitaxial films exhibits similar behaviours to the so-called “Y-line” observed in other zincblende structure II-VI semiconductor films such as ZnSe/GaAs or ZnTe/GaAs heteroepitaxial films. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)