New Semiconductor Alloy GaAs_1-xBi_x Grown by Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy

Abstract

A new semiconductor alloy material, GaAs1-x Bi x has been created by Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxial (MOVPE) growth. A low growth temperature, such as 365°C, is required to obtain the alloy. X-ray diffraction measurements of alloy layers reveal that the diffraction patterns are satisfactory. The maximum GaBi content in the GaAsBi alloy estimated from the lattice constant is around 2%, which is consistent with that estimated from secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurements. In a photoluminescence (PL) measurement, a single peak spectrum is observed from 10 to 300 K. The temperature variation of the PL peak energy is as small as 0.1 meV/K.

Novel Dilute Bismide, Epitaxy, Physical Properties and Device Application

“…By performing temperature-dependent PL [164], Oe and Okamoto reported that the thermally induced bandgap redshift in GaAsBi is much less sensitive than that in GaAs [32]. Yoshida et al obtained the same results with PR measurements later [48].…”

“…When both N and Bi are used, it is possible to independently control CB and VB in GaAsNBi, and thus extend light emission wavelength very efficiently. Other beneficial properties when using Bi include large spin-orbit (SO) split band [46,47], less temperature sensitive bandgap [32,48,49], minor influence on both electron [50] and hole mobility [51] for small Bi concentrations, enhancement of PL intensity [44] and surfactant effect ensuring smooth surface [52], etc. Sweeney and Jin proposed theoretically that GaAsNBi is promising for efficient near IR light emitting devices [53].…”

“…The temperaturedependent PR measurements by Kudrawiec et al about one decade later showed that the temperature-bandgap coefficient is independent on Bi content in InGaAsBi and GaSbBi [190,238]. The authors argued that the PL in Reference [32] was influenced by carrier localization and the PR in Reference [48] was interfered by Franz-Keldysh oscillation. However, the recent high excitation PL work with the localization elimination by Pettinari et al re-supported the Bi-induced bandgap insensitivity against temperature [239].…”

Configuration dependence of band-gap narrowing and localization in diluteGaAs1−xBixalloys

“…Alloying of gallium arsenide (GaAs) with bismuth (Bi) efficiently reduces the band gap E g and enhances the spinorbit splitting [1][2][3] , the magnitude of which exceeds the energy gap (E g ) of GaAs 1−x Bi x at the Bi content of x Bi 9% 4 . Sweeney et al 5 suggested that these properties can lead to a suppression of non-radiative losses in GaAs 1−x Bi x alloys (bismides) by creating off-resonance conditions for the Auger recombination 6 , thus making dilute bismide semiconductors a promising candidate for GaAs-based lasers in the telecommunication wavelength of 1.55 µm 7,8 .…”

AlAs as a Bi blocking barrier in GaAsBi multi-quantum wells: Structural analysis

“…Substitution of As by Bi in the GaAs lattice produces a much larger reduction in the band gap (-60 to -80 meV/%Bi) [1,2] than alloying by In (-12 meV/%In) and Sn (-20 meV/%). Also, Bi is the heaviest nonradioactive element; therefore, it has a large spin orbit splitting, which is useful for spin-based semiconductor devices.…”