Liquid phase epitaxy of semiconducting tin on indium antimonide

Abstract

Islets of α-Sn have been epitaxially grown by he Liquid Phase Epitaxy (LPE) technique on (111)B InSb substrate in Sn-Hg melt at 7.5-12.5 C. That epitaxial growths are in islet form is believed to be due to the presence of an oxide layer with pin-holes on InSb substrate. The x-ray back reflection technique and the Election-Probe Micro Analysis (EPMA) were used to confirm α-Sn epitaxy on InSb. The α-Sn phase is stable to approximately 60C, which is comparable to the results obtained by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) technique reported by other workers. The optical microscope and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) were used to evaluate the crystalization results.