Replacing small amounts of As with Bi in InGaBiAs/InP induces large decreases and increases in the bandgap, E, and spin-orbit splitting, Δ, respectively. The possibility of achieving Δ > E and a reduced temperature (T) dependence for E are significant for suppressing recombination losses and improving performance in mid-infrared photonic devices. We measure E (x, T) and Δ (x, T) in InGa BiAs/InP samples for 0 x 0.039 by various complementary optical spectroscopic techniques. While we find no clear evidence of a decreased dE/dT (≈0.34 ± 0.06 meV/K in all samples) we find Δ > E for x > 3.3-4.3. The predictions of a valence band anti-crossing model agree well with the measurements. © 2012 American Institute of Physics

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We report room temperature electronic and thermoelectric properties of Si-doped In0.52Ga0.48BiyAs1−y with varying Bi concentrations. These films were grown epitaxially on a semi-insulating InP substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. We show that low Bi concentrations are optimal in improving the conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermoelectric power factor, possibly due to the surfactant effects of bismuth. We observed a reduction in thermal conductivity with increasing Bi concentration, which is expected because of alloy scattering. We report a peak ZT of 0.23 at 300 K.

Temperature dependent photo-modulated reflectance is used to measure the band gap E g and spin-orbit splitting energy Δ so in dilute-Bi In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As 1-x Bi x /InP for 1.2% ⩽ x ⩽ 5.8%. At room temperature, E g decreases with increasing Bi from 0.65 to 0.47 eV (∼2.6 μm), while Δ so increases from 0.42 to 0.62 eV, leading to a crossover between E g and Δ so around 3.8% Bi. The 5.8% Bi sample is the first example of this alloy where Δ so > E g has been confirmed at all temperatures. The condition Δ so > E g is important for suppressing hot-hole-producing nonradiative Auger recombination and inter-valence band absorption losses and so holds promise for the development of mid-infra-red devices based on this material system. The measured variations of E g and Δ so as a function of Bi content at 300 K are compared to those calculated using a 12band k.p Hamiltonian which includes valence band anti-crossing effects. The E g results as a function of temperature are fitted with the Bose-Einstein model. We also look for evidence to support the prediction that E g in dilute bismides may show a reduced temperature sensitivity, but find no clear indication of that.

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