Synchrotron x-ray topography studies have been conducted at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory to correlate defects in HgCdTe epilayers with those in underlying CdTe family substrates. Infrared detectors have been fabricated on these epilayers to investigate the performance impact of specific defects. This paper describes synchrotron x-ray facilities and methods. Images of substrates and epilayers are discussed and mapping of epilayer/substrate defects, such as microtwins, subgrain boundaries and slip lines, is demonstrated. Efforts to map detector array performance to epilayer and substrate topographs are described.

This paper describes the role of Zn in CdTe in changing its macroscopic and microscopic properties. After the addition of Zn to CdTe, the etching behaviour of dislocations is modified, precipitation of Te is inhibited and hardness of the material increases. In the ternary ZnCdTe alloy containing 20–30% Zn, hexagonal phases of CdTe and ZnTe are found to co-exist with the zinc blende phase of ZnCdTe.