Optically-Detected Magnetic Resonance of II-VI Compounds

Abstract

The first ODMR experiments on II–VI compounds were reported in 1975^1,2 and since that time the technique has been used with considerable success to investigate recombination processes in these and other semiconductors, especially those with the wider bandgaps. Because of the much greater spectral resolution that ODMR provides compared with standard optical spectroscopy, extremely detailed identification of recombination centres is possible, and in this respect studies of II–VI compounds have been particularly successful. Reviews of the early investigations on these materials were given by Cox³ and by Cavenett⁴ and accounts of work up to 1985⁵ and up to 1987⁶ have been given by the present author. The purpose of the present article is to summarize the type of information that ODMR provides in the context of II–VI materials, to outline both the advantages and the limitations of the technique and finally to discuss the possibilities of extending the investigations to multiple quantum well (MQW) and superlattice structures.