We present a comprehensive, up-to-date compilation of band parameters for the technologically important III–V zinc blende and wurtzite compound semiconductors: GaAs, GaSb, GaP, GaN, AlAs, AlSb, AlP, AlN, InAs, InSb, InP, and InN, along with their ternary and quaternary alloys. Based on a review of the existing literature, complete and consistent parameter sets are given for all materials. Emphasizing the quantities required for band structure calculations, we tabulate the direct and indirect energy gaps, spin-orbit, and crystal-field splittings, alloy bowing parameters, effective masses for electrons, heavy, light, and split-off holes, Luttinger parameters, interband momentum matrix elements, and deformation potentials, including temperature and alloy-composition dependences where available. Heterostructure band offsets are also given, on an absolute scale that allows any material to be aligned relative to any other.

Band parameters for III–V compound semiconductors and their alloys

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Infrared detectors: status and trends

The three semiconductors InAs, GaSb, and AlSb form an approximately lattice-matched set around 6.1 A , covering a wide range of energy gaps and other properties. Of particular interest are heterostructures combining InAs with one or both of the antimonides, and they are emphasized in this review. In addition to their use in conventional device types (FETs, RTDs, etc.), several heterostructure configurations with unique properties have been explored, especially InAs/AlSb quantum wells and InAs/GaSb superlattices. InAs/AlSb quantum wells are an ideal medium to study the low-temperature transport properties in InAs itself. With gate-induced electron sheet concentrations on the order 10 12 cm −2 , they exhibit a pronounced conductivity quantization. The very deep wells (1.35 eV ) provide excellent electron confinement, and also permit modulation doping up to at least 10 13 electrons cm −2 . Because of the very low effective mass in InAs, heavily doped wells are essentially metals, with Fermi energies around 200 meV , and Fermi velocities exceeding 10 8 cm s −1 . Contacted with superconducting electrodes, such structures can act as superconductive weak links. InAs/GaSb-related superlattices with their broken-gap lineup behave like semimetals at large lattice periods, but if the lattice period is shortened, increasing quantization effects cause a transition to a narrow-gap semiconductor, making such structures of interest for infrared detectors, often combined with the deliberate addition of strain.

The 6.1 Å family (InAs, GaSb, AlSb) and its heterostructures: a selective review

In 1959, Lawson and co-workers published the paper which triggered development of variable band gap Hg1−xCdxTe (HgCdTe) alloys providing an unprecedented degree of freedom in infrared detector design. HgCdTe ternary alloy has been used for realization of detectors operating under various modalities including: photoconductor, photodiode, and metal-insulator-semiconductor detector designs. Over the last five decades, this material system has successfully overcome the challenges from other material systems. It is important to notice that none of these competitors can compete in terms of fundamental properties. The competition may represent more mature technology but not higher performance or, with the exception of thermal detectors, higher operating temperatures (HOTs) for ultimate performance. In the last two decades, several new concepts for improvement of the performance of photodetectors have been proposed. These new concepts are particularly addressing the drive towards the so called HOT detectors aiming to increase detector operating temperatures. In this paper, new strategies in photodetector designs are reviewed, including barrier detectors, unipolar barrier photodiodes, multistage detectors and trapping detectors. Some of these new solutions have emerged as a real competitor to HgCdTe photodetectors.

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New concepts in infrared photodetector designs

The optical and electrical properties of infrared photodiodes diodes based on InAs/(GaIn)Sb superlattices grown by molecular beam epitaxy were investigated. The diodes, with a cut-off wavelength around 8 μm show a current responsivity of 2 A/W. By proper adjustment of the p-doping level above the n-background concentration the depletion width exceeds a critical size of about 60 nm, leading to the suppression of band-to-band tunneling currents. Above that critical width the dynamic impedance R0A at 77 K reaches values above 1 kΩ cm2 leading to a Johnson-noise-limited detectivity in excess of 1×1012 cm√Hz/W.

High performance InAs/Ga1-xInxSb superlattice infrared photodiodes

The InAs/Ga1−xInxSb strained‐layer superlattice (SLS) holds promise as an alternative III–V semiconductor system for long wavelength infrared detectors. In this article, we present the first investigation, to the best of our knowledge, of heterojunction photodiodes using this new material. The devices were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaSb substrates, and are comprised of a 38 A InAs/16 A Ga0.64In0.36Sb SLS used in double heterojunctions with GaSb contact layers. The structures were designed to optimize the quantum efficiency while minimizing transport barriers at the heterointerfaces. The photodiodes are assessed through the correlation of their performance with the SLS material quality and the detector design. X‐ray diffraction, absorption, and Hall measurements are used to determine the SLS material properties. The electrical and optical properties of the photodiodes are determined using current–voltage and spectral responsivity measurements. At 78 K, these devices exhibit rectifying electrical behavior and photoresponse out to a wavelength of 10.6 μm corresponding to the SLS energy gap. The responsivity and resistance in these thin‐layered (0.75 μm), unpassivated photodiodes result in a detectivity of 1×1010 cm √Hz/W at 8.8 μm and 78 K. Based upon the performance of these devices, we conclude that high‐sensitivity operation of long‐wavelength photovoltaic detectors at temperatures well in excess of conventional III–V band gap‐engineered systems, and potentially in excess of HgCdTe, is feasible using this material system.

J. L. Johnson

Papers

Electrical and optical properties of infrared photodiodes using the InAs/Ga1−xInxSb superlattice in heterojunctions with GaSb