Strain mapping of ultrathin epitaxial ZnTe and MnTe layers embedded in CdTe

High-resolution electron microscopy is used to investigate the morphology of ultrathin pseudomorphic (001) ZnTe and MnTe strained layers grown in CdTe. Local distortions of the crystal lattice are measured directly on high-resolution images by use of image processing software. In the case of ZnTe/CdTe superlattices, the method yields the location of Zn within each place in the heterostructure and the total amount of Zn per period. For MnTe layers embedded in CdTe, one can deduce the atomic morphology of the interfaces which are shown to present a clear asymmetry