The incorporation of nitrogen in the low percentage range is investigated in a different III–V compound matrix. The materials are grown by molecular-beam epitaxy with a nitrogen radio-frequency plasma source. For equivalent growth conditions, the same rate of N incorporation is found for GaAsN and GaInAsN. However, this N incorporation rate is significantly enhanced in the GaAsSbN alloy. These observations support a discussion on the reactive nitrogen species.

The band-gap (Egp) and valence band offset (ΔEv) energies of pseudomorphic GaAsSb layers on GaAs substrate are determined from temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurements on GaAsSb/GaAs and GaAsSb/GaAlAs quantum wells grown by molecular beam epitaxy. A clear evidence of staggered type-II band alignment of GaAsSb relative to GaAs and a value of 1.05 for the valence band offset ratio (Qv) are proposed. Finally, through a detailed comparison of these values with those published previously, we have shown that the scatter in Qv found in the literature (<1 to 2.1) is closely dependent on the exact determination of Egp. Particularly, we have shown that the strain dependence of the deformation potential is important in the calculation of the strain energy contribution to Egp.

Growth and properties of GaNAsSb alloys are investigated and compared with those of other dilute III-N-V alloys. Similar properties are observed including very high bandgap bowing, carrier localization at low temperature, sensitivity to thermal annealing and passivation of N-related electronic states by hydrogen. On the other hand, we point out some features of this alloy system and evaluate its potential for device applications. Probably, GaNAsSb can achieve emission at longer wavelengths than GaInNAs alloys grown to date. Its conduction-and valence-band offsets can be independently tuned by adjusting the N and Sb composition, respectively. Since this compound has a single group III element, its electronic structure should be less dependent on alloy configuration than GaInNAs.

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