Atomic structure of the CdTe(001) C(2x2) reconstructed surface: A grazing incidence x-ray diffraction study

We present a grazing incidence x-ray diffraction surface structure determination on a II-VI compound, namely, the CdTe(001) C(2X2) reconstructed surface, grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The structural analysis leads to a model with cadmium bridges corresponding to a coverage of 0.5 ML Cd, as expected from previous studies. This surface arrangement is accompanied by a significant relaxation of the underlying substrate down to the sixth atomic layer. Moreover, a strong anisotropy of the reconstructed domain dimensions is observed and quantified. This findings may explain the anisotropic behavior observed during homoepitaxial and heteroepitaxial growth on CdTe. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.