A model is proposed for the line shape of the optical dielectric function of zinc-blende semiconductors. For comparison with previously proposed models, this model is used primarily with spectroscopic ellipsometry data (but also transmission data below 1.5 eV) to obtain an analytic room-temperature dielectric function for GaAs. It is found to be more generally valid than the harmonic-oscillator model, the critical-point (CP) model, or the model of Adachi. It is applicable over the entire range of photon energies, below and above the lowest band gaps, incorporates the electronic band structure of the medium, and exactly satisfies the Kramers-Kronig transformation.It goes beyond the CP parabolic-band approximation in that it correctly takes into account the full analytic form of the electronic density of states and thus does not require the use of arbitrary cutoff energies. Also, it allows one to go beyond the usual approximation of Lorentzian broadening, which is known to be incorrect for elements and compounds above very low temperatures. For these reasons, it results in excellent quantitative agreement with experimental results for the dielectric function and for its derivatives with respect to photon energy, much better than that given by earlier models. Finally, the parameters of the model are physically significant and are easily determined as functions of composition for semiconductor alloys. Application of the model to the fitting of spectroscopic data on GaAs strongly suggests that spectroscopic ellipsometry does not measure the true bulk dielectric function. It also supports the conclusion that the line-shape broadening in GaAs at room temperature is more nearly Gaussian than Lorentzian.
Interfacial layers including HgTe∕CdTe superlattices (SLs) were introduced during the molecular-beam epitaxy growth of HgCdTe on CdZnTe (211)B substrates. Transmission-electron-microscopic observations show that the SLs smooth out the substrates’ surface roughness during growth, and can also bend or block threading dislocations in a way that prevents their propagation from the substrate into the functional HgCdTe epilayers. An average etch pit density value in the low-105cm−2 range was reproducibly achieved in long wavelength HgCdTe samples, with the best value being 4×104cm−2. Photoconductive decay lifetime measurements give values approaching theoretical limits, as determined by the intrinsic radiative and Auger recombination mechanisms. The use of such interfacial layers thus leads to enhanced growth yields and material properties.
We have used electrolyte electroreflectance (EER) to characterize ZnSe/GaAs and ZnSe/AlAs interfaces. The great sensitivity of EER to interface space-charge regions enabled us to detect both interface crossover transitions and transitions to triangular-well interface states. The observation of these transitions provides the first unambiguous proof that the ZnSe/GaAs interface is type I and allowed us to determine the band offsets and band bendings, the diffusion lengths across each interface, and the amount of interdiffusion.
A systematic study of the optical dielectric function by spectroscopic ellipsometry and electroreflectance has shown that the proper functional form for the Green’s function for an electron-hole pair in GaAs or CdTe is primarily Gaussian, not Lorentzian as is commonly assumed, although it is primarily Lorentzian for Hg1−xCdxTe. The Lorentzian part of the broadening is shown to measure the alloy, impurity, and defect scattering.
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