Doping of zinc‐selenide‐telluride

We investigate the doping behavior of ZnSe/ZnTe short period superlattices. p‐type doping is achieved with a dc nitrogen plasma source, n‐type doping with chlorine from a ZnCl₂ Knudsen source. Even a small Te content has a strong positive effect on p doping: Doping levels in the upper 10¹⁹ cm⁻³ range are achieved, and ohmic contacts can be obtained even for low carrier concentrations. The data are in excellent agreement with a theory based on the amphoteric native defect model. The opposite is valid for n doping: At Te concentrations above 20% electron concentrations are below 10¹⁶ cm⁻³. As a possible way to get both good n‐ and p‐type doping at the same lattice constant we propose the use of the quaternary compound Zn_(1−y)Mg_(y)Se_(1−x)Te_(x).