Study on the Self-Aligned HgTe Nanocrystallites Induced by Controlled Precipitation Technique in HgTe-PbTe Quasi-Binary Semiconductor System: Part I. TEM Study

The present study discusses the results of the controlled precipitation of HgTe nanocrystals in a PbTe semiconductor matrix and demonstrates its effectiveness in producing well-organized and crystallographically aligned semiconductor nanocrystals. Following the similar procedure used in metallic alloys, the semiconductor alloys are treated at 600$^{\circ}C$ for 48 hours, quenched and aged up to 500 hours at 300$^{\circ}C$ and 450$^{\circ}C$ to induce homogeneous nucleation and growth of HgTe nanocrystalline precipitates. Examination of the resulting precipitates using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution TEM (HRTEM) reveals that the coherent HgTe precipitates form as thin discs along the {100} habit planes making a crystallographic relation of {100}$\sub$HgTe///{100}$\sub$PbTe/ and [100]$\sub$HgTe///[100]$\sub$PbTe/. It is also found that the nato-disc undergoes a gradual thickening and a faceting under isothermal aging up to 500 hours without any noticeable coarsening. These results, combined with the extreme dimension of the precipitates (4 nm in length and sub-nanometer in thickness) and the simplicity of the formation process, leads to the conclusion that controlled precipitation is an effective method for the preparation of the desirable quantum-dot nanostructures.