Nanomaterials @ Interfaces Research Group

Nanocrystalline PbSe films were grown on GaAs(100) and on the As face of GaAs(111) substrates using chemical solution deposition. The microstructure of the films was found to be strongly affected by the deposition temperature over a surprisingly narrow temperature range. In PbSe deposited on GaAs(100), gradual increase in crystallite size and transition to (111) texture were obtained with increasing temperature. In contrast with PbSe deposited on GaAs(100), the (111) texture in PbSe on GaAs(111) dominated throughout the deposition temperature range. Since temperature directly affects reaction rate, the temperature-dependent morphological changes observed in this work occur primarily due to increasing sample thickness.