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Title: Effect of Substrate Surface Defects and Te Dopant Concentration on Crystalline Quality and Electrical Characteristics of AlGaAsSb Epitaxial Layers

Conference ·
OSTI ID:875457

The influence of GaSb substrate surface defects such as native oxides on the crystalline quality of epitaxial layers was investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Cross sectional TEM imaging showed that there are discrete defects at the GaSb-substrate/epilayer interface. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) results revealed high oxygen concentration at the interface, indicating that the defects are likely oxides and presumed to be native oxides since other impurities were not detected. High resolution TEM micrographs showed that the subsequent growth of the epilayer continues beyond the defects without any additional defect generation or propagation. Tellurium doped AlGaAsSb epitaxial layers were grown lattice-matched on GaSb substrates and lattice-mismatched on semi-insulating GaAs substrates by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy and Hall data showed that the ratio of carrier concentration to Te concentration decreases significantly when the carrier concentration increases from 2.5 x 10{sup 17} cm{sup -3} to 6.5 x 10{sup 17} cm{sup -3}. TEM imaging showed that the material with heavily doped Te generates a high density (about 10{sup 8} cm{sup 2}) of planar defects (stacking fault) located on (111) planes. Most of the Te-related defects originate at the GaSb buffer layer/AlGaAsSb epilayer interface. In addition, discrete precipitates were observed in the heavily doped AlGaAsSb layer.

Research Organization:
Knolls Atomic Power Lab. (KAPL), Niskayuna, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
DE-AC12-00SN39357
OSTI ID:
875457
Report Number(s):
LM-05K176; TRN: US200605%%22
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English