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

This review is concerned with quantum confinement effects in low-dimensional semiconductor systems. The emphasis is on the optical properties, including luminescence, of nanometre-sized microcrysta...

Low-dimensional systems: quantum size effects and electronic properties of semiconductor microcrystallites (zero-dimensional systems) and some quasi-two-dimensional systems

In this article we review the experimental and theoretical investigations of the linear and nonlinear optical properties of semiconductor quantum well structures, including the effects of electrostatic fields, extrinsic carriers and real or virtual photocarriers.

Linear and nonlinear optical properties of semiconductor quantum wells

Intercalation of the layer type transition metal dichalcogenides by a variety of organic molecules, alkali metals, or ‘3d’ transition metals, provides a powerful way to finely tune the electron occupation of the relatively narrow ‘d’ bands met in these solids These transition metal dichalcogenides are highly anisotropic solids, sometimes referred to as ‘two-dimensional’ solids, and the intercalant molecules which are electron donors enter between the layers This can result in profound changes in the electronic properties of the host lattice, and these changes can be understood in terms of charge transfer and increased interlayer separation The phenomena discussed include optical properties, transport properties, super-conductivity, order-disorder phenomena and phase changes, staging, magnetic properties, metal-insulator transitions, Anderson localization, and fast-ion conduction Some possible practical applications are also considered

Electronic properties of intercalation complexes of the transition metal dichalcogenides

The occurrence of charge-density waves in three selected layered transition-metal dichalcogenides-1T-TaS(2), 2H-TaSe(2) and 1T-TiSe(2)-is discussed from an experimentalist's point of view with a particular focus on the implications of recent angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy results. The basic models behind charge-density-wave formation in low-dimensional solids are recapitulated, the experimental and theoretical results for the three selected compounds are reviewed, and their band structures and spectral weight distributions in the commensurate charge-density-wave phases are calculated using an empirical tight-binding model. It is explored whether the origin of charge-density waves in the layered transition-metal dichalcogenides can be understood in a unified way on the basis of a few measured and calculated parameters characterizing the interacting electron-lattice system. It is found that the predictions of the standard mean-field model agree only semi-quantitatively with the experimental data and that there is not one generally dominant factor driving charge-density-wave formation in this family of layer compounds. The need for further experimental and theoretical scrutiny is emphasized.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0953-8984/23/21/213001/pdf

On the origin of charge-density waves in select layered transition-metal dichalcogenides.

A barrier photodetector is a device in which the light is absorbed in a narrow bandgap semiconductor layer whose bands
remain essentially flat or accumulated at the operating bias so that all carrier depletion is excluded. In a conventional
photodiode below a threshold temperature T0, typically 130-150K for MWIR devices, the dark current is due to
Generation-Recombination (G-R) centres in the depletion layer. In a barrier detector, the absence of depletion in the
narrow bandgap semiconductor ensures that the G-R contribution to the dark current is negligible. The dark current in
the barrier detector is thus dominated by the diffusion component, both above and below T0. Therefore, at a given
temperature below T0, a barrier detector will exhibit a lower dark current than a conventional photodiode with the same cut-off wavelength. Alternatively, for a given dark current, a barrier detector will operate at a higher temperature than a
conventional photodiode, provided that this temperature is below T0. Device architectures are presented for barrier
detectors with photon absorbing layers based on InAs1-xSbx alloys and type-II InAs/GaSb superlattices (T2SL). The thermionic and tunneling components of the dark current are analyzed and shown to be negligible for typical device
parameters. An operating temperature of ~150K is estimated for a MWIR barrier detector with f/3 optics and a cut-off
wavelength of 4.2μ.

http://client.blueskybroadcast.com/spie/dss08/pdf/6940-92-a6c_klipstein_paper.pdf

XBn Barrier Photodetectors for High Sensitivity and High Operating Temperature Infrared Sensors

Transport and Raman data are presented for samples of Ti1+xS2 with carrier densities, determined from the Hall coefficient, ranging from approximately 1020 cm-3 to approximately 3*1021 cm-3. No dependence on carrier concentration, n, is observed for the frequency of the A1g Raman-active phonon, whereas a strong variation is seen in the non-linear temperature dependence of resistivity, rho (T), between 4.2K and 290K. Fitting the resistivity to a power law, rho (T)- rho (o) varies as Tp, in the range 110K to 290K, the authors find p=2.3 for n approximately 1020 cm-3 and p=1.6 for n approximately *1021 cm-3. For samples with carrier concentrations above approximately 7*1020 cm-3 a stronger temperature dependence is observed below 100K. The temperature-dependent part of the resistivity is proportional to n-0.74 at room temperature and n-0.60 at 150K. It is argued that the scattering mechanism in TiS2 is with both optical and acoustic phonons. Below the Debye temperature the form and variation with carrier concentration of the temperature dependence may be described by a model involving both intra- and inter-valley scattering by acoustic phonons.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3719/14/28/009/pdf

Stoichiometry dependence of the transport properties of TiS2

InAs/GaSb and InAs/InAsSb type II superlattices have been proposed as promising alternatives to HgCdTe for the photon-absorbing layer of an infrared detector. When combined with a barrier layer based on an InAs/AlSb superlattice or an AlSbAs alloy, respectively, they can be used to make diffusion-limited “barrier” detectors with very low dark currents. In this work we compare theoretical simulations with experimental bandgap and photoabsorption data for such superlattices, spanning from the mid to the long-wave infra-red (2.3–12 μm). The spectral response of detectors based on these materials is also simulated. The simulations are based on a version of the k · p model developed by one of the authors, which takes interface contributions and bandgap bowing into account. Our results provide a way of assessing the relative merits of InAs/GaSb and InAs/InAsSb superlattices as potential detector materials.

Modeling InAs/GaSb and InAs/InAsSb Superlattice Infrared Detectors

The invention relates to a photo-detector with a reduced G-R noise, which comprises a sequence of a p-type contact layer, a middle barrier layer and an n-type photon absorbing layer, wherein the middle barrier layer has an energy bandgap significantly greater than that of the photon absorbing layer, and there is no layer with a narrower energy bandgap than that in the photon-absorbing layer.

Depletion-less photodiode with suppressed dark current and method for producing the same

Evidence for p-d band crossing at a pressure of 40 kbar is presented for the layered compound TiS2, based on the variation with pressure of the Hall coefficient, RH, thermoelectric power, S, and resistivity, rho . Below 40 kbar the transport properties may be understood within the framework of an extrinsic semiconductor model with strong electron-phonon scattering. Under pressure the band overlap is estimated to change at the rate of 4.5+or-1.5 meV kbar-1; this implies a band gap of 0.18+or-0.06 eV for TiS2 at ambient pressure. Analysis of the quantity -RH/ rho 2e as a function of pressure, and solution of the transport equations at 90 kbar are both used to show that in the semimetallic state of TiS2 the d-band electron mobility exceeds the p-band hole mobility. In contrast, the hole mobility is the greater at all pressures up to 90 kbar in TiSe2.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3719/17/15/010/pdf

Philip Klipstein

Papers

XBn Barrier Photodetectors for High Sensitivity and High Operating Temperature Infrared Sensors

Stoichiometry dependence of the transport properties of TiS2

Modeling InAs/GaSb and InAs/InAsSb Superlattice Infrared Detectors

Depletion-less photodiode with suppressed dark current and method for producing the same

Semiconductor to semimetal transition in TiS2 at 40 kbar