Aluminium gallium antimonide explained

Aluminium gallium antimonide, also known as gallium aluminium antimonide or AlGaSb (AlxGa1-xSb), is a ternary III-V semiconductor compound. It can be considered as an alloy between aluminium antimonide and gallium antimonide. The alloy can contain any ratio between aluminium and gallium. AlGaSb refers generally to any composition of the alloy.

Preparation

AlGaSb films have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy, chemical beam epitaxy[1] and liquid phase epitaxy[2] on gallium arsenide and gallium antimonide substrates. It is often incorporated into layered heterostructures with other III-V compounds.

Electronic Properties

The bandgap and lattice constant of AlGaSb alloys are between those of pure AlSb (a = 0.614 nm, Eg = 1.62 eV) and GaSb (a = 0.610 nm, Eg = 0.73 eV).[3] At an intermediate composition, the bandgap transitions from an indirect gap, like that of pure AlSb, to a direct gap, like that of pure GaSb. Different values of the composition at which this transition occurs have been reported over time, both from computational and experimental studies, with reported values ranging from x = 0.23 to x = 0.43.[4] [5] The spread in the reported values of the transition is mainly due to the closeness of the gap sizes at the Γ and L points in the Brillouin zone and variations in the experimentally-determined gap sizes.

Applications

AlGaSb has been incorporated into devices such as heterojunction bipolar and high-electron-mobility transistors,[6] [7] [8] resonant-tunneling diodes,[9] solar cells,[10] short-wave infrared lasers,[11] and a novel infrared light modulator.[12] It is sometimes selected as an interlayer or buffer layer in studies of GaSb and InAs quantum wells.

Al-rich AlGaSb is sometimes selected over AlSb in heterostructures for being more chemically stable and resistant to oxidation than pure AlSb.

Notes and References

  1. ((Okuno, Y.)), ((Asahi, H.)), ((Kaneko, T.)), ((Itani, Y.)), ((Asami, K.)), ((Gonda, S.)) . Journal of Crystal Growth . MOMBE growth of AlGaSb . 115 . 1–4 . 236–240 . 1991 . 10.1016/0022-0248(91)90745-Q. 1991JCrGr.115..236O .
  2. ((Wada, T.)), ((Kubota, K.)), ((Ikoma, T.)) . Journal of Crystal Growth . Liquid phase epitaxial growth of AlGaSb . 66 . 3 . 493–500 . 1984 . 10.1016/0022-0248(84)90147-7. 1984JCrGr..66..493W .
  3. ((Vurgaftman, I.)), ((Meyer, J. R.)), ((Ram-Mohan, L. R.)) . Journal of Applied Physics . Band parameters for III–V compound semiconductors and their alloys . 89 . 11 . 5815–5875 . 2001 . 10.1063/1.1368156. 2001JAP....89.5815V .
  4. ((Wang, F.)), ((Jia, Y.)), ((Li, S.-F.)), ((Sun, Q.)) . Journal of Applied Physics . First-principles calculation of the 6.1 Å family bowing parameters and band offsets . 105 . 4 . 043101–043101–4 . 2009 . 10.1063/1.3072688. 2009JAP...105d3101W .
  5. ((Mathieu, H.)), ((Auvergne, D.)), ((Merle, P.)), ((Rustagi, K. C.)) . Physical Review B . Electronic energy levels in Ga1−xAlxSb alloys . 12 . 12 . 5846–5852 . 1975 . 10.1103/PhysRevB.12.5846.
  6. ((Bennett, B. R.)), ((Khan, S. A.)), ((Boos, J. B.)), ((Papanicolaou, N. A.)), ((Kuznetsov, V. V.)) . Journal of Electronic Materials . AlGaSb Buffer Layers for Sb-Based Transistors . 39 . 10 . 2196–2202 . 2010 . 10.1007/s11664-010-1295-0. 2010JEMat..39.2196B . 54777000 .
  7. ((Bennett, B. R.)), ((Boos, J. B.)), ((Ancona, M. G.)), ((Papanicolaou, N. A.)), ((Cooke, G. A.)), ((Kheyrandish, H.)) . Journal of Electronic Materials . InAlSb/InAs/AlGaSb Quantum Well Heterostructures for High-Electron-Mobility Transistors . 36 . 2 . 99–104 . 2007 . 10.1007/s11664-006-0057-5. 2007JEMat..36...99B . 887524 .
  8. ((Furukawa, A.)), ((Mizuta, M.)) . Electronics Letters . Heterojunction bipolar transistor utilising AlGaSb/GaSb alloy system . 24 . 22 . 1378 . 1988 . 10.1049/el:19880943. 1988ElL....24.1378F .
  9. ((Magno, R.)), ((Bracker, A. S.)), ((Bennett, B. R.)) . Journal of Applied Physics . Resonant interband tunnel diodes with AlGaSb barriers . 89 . 10 . 5791–5793 . 2001 . 10.1063/1.1365940. 2001JAP....89.5791M .
  10. ((Vadiee, E.)), ((Renteria, E.)), ((Zhang, C.)), ((Williams, J. J.)), ((Mansoori, A.)), ((Addamane, S.)), ((Balakrishnan, G.)), ((Honsberg, C. B.)) . IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics . AlGaSb-Based Solar Cells Grown on GaAs: Structural Investigation and Device Performance . 7 . 6 . 1795–1801 . 2017 . 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2756056. free .
  11. ((Wang, C. A.)), ((Jensen, K. F.)), ((Jones, A. C.)), ((Choi, H. K.)) . Applied Physics Letters . n -AlGaSb and GaSb/AlGaSb double-heterostructure lasers grown by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy . 68 . 3 . 400–402 . 1996 . 10.1063/1.116698. 1996ApPhL..68..400W .
  12. ((Xie, H.)), ((Wang, W. I.)) . Applied Physics Letters . Normal incidence infrared modulator using direct–indirect transitions in GaSb quantum wells . 63 . 6 . 776–778 . 1993 . 10.1063/1.109904. 1993ApPhL..63..776X .

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