Raman scattering of cadmium oxide epilayers grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy

We present a lattice-dynamics study of rocksalt cadmium oxide (CdO). We use Raman scattering to investigate a series of high-quality CdO epilayers grown on sapphire substrates by means of metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. Two main features are found to dominate the Raman spectra of CdO: a sharp peak at ∼265 cm−1 and a broad feature at ∼390 cm−1. To assign these and other weaker second-order features that appear in the Raman spectra, we have carried out an ab initio calculation of the phonon dispersion in CdO. From the calculated two-phonon density of states (PDOS) we tentatively assign the peak at 265 cm−1 to a 2TA(L) mode. The broadband centered at ∼390 cm−1 seems to reflect the high two-PDOS in the 300–450 cm−1 spectral region.