Substrate issues for the growth of mercury cadmium telluride

Close lattice matching and lattice compatibility with mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) make CdTe and related alloys ideal substrate materials for growth of MCT layers for the purpose of making high-performance second-generation infrared detectors. However, the limitations in the properties of CdTe and the difficulties in its bulk growth have prompted extensive research in the area of alternative substrates. Some basic relevant characteristics of substrates such as sapphire, GaAs, and silicon are compared and the possibilities and problems associated with each material are analyzed in the light of the most recent results in the field.