In this letter we report on the growth of high quality InSb by molecular beam epitaxy that has been optimized using reflection high energy electron diffraction. A 4.8 μm InSb layer grown on GaAs at a growth temperature of 395 °C and a III/V incorporation ratio of 1:1.2 had an x-ray rocking curve of 158 arcsec and a Hall mobility of 92 300 cm2 V−1 at 77 K. This is the best material quality obtained for InSb nucleated directly onto GaAs reported to date.

InAs0.3Sb0.7 layers with mirrorlike morphology have been grown on GaAs substrates by low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. A room-temperature electron Hall mobility of 2×104 cm2/V s has been obtained for a 2-μm-thick layer. Low-temperature resistivity of the layers depended on TMIn flow rate and layer thickness. Hall mobility decreased monotonically with decreasing temperature below 300 K. A 77 K conductivity profile has shown an anomalous increase in the sample conductivity with decreasing thickness except in the near vicinity of the heterointerface. In order to interpret the experimental data, the effects of different scattering mechanisms on carrier mobility have been calculated, and the influences of the lattice mismatch and surface conduction on the Hall measurements have been investigated by applying a three-layer Hall-effect model. Experimental and theoretical results suggest that the combined effects of the dislocations generated by the large lattice mismatch and strong surface inversion may lead to deceptive Hall measurements by reflecting typical n-type behavior for a p-type sample, and the measured carrier concentration may considerably be affected by the surface conduction up to near room temperature. A quantitative analysis of dislocation scattering has shown significant degradation in electron mobility for dislocation densities above 107 cm−2. The effects of dislocation scattering on hole mobility have been found to be less severe. It has also been observed that there is a critical epilayer thickness (∼1 μm) below which the surface electron mobility is limited by dislocation scattering.

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