The Reaction Kinetics of Cu with the CdTe(111)-B Surface: Formation of Metastable CuxTe (x~2)

In the present study, elemental Cu is deposited on the clean CdTe(111)- B surface and annealed in vacuum. Surface-composition maps generated by scanning Auger microcopy provide evidence that a reaction occurs between Cu and the CdTe(111)- B substrate that results in the formation of a metastable copper telluride phase Cux Te (x∼2) at the surface. In situ thermal-desorption mass spectrometry measurements show that elemental Cd is released during the reaction and desorbs from the surface. Desorption of Te from the substrate is suppressed during the reaction. Analysis of Cd desorption traces demonstrates that the Cu+CdTe (111) -B reaction proceeds via zero-order kinetics, with an activation energy of 180±5 kJ mol-1.