PROPERTIES OF INAS (GA,IN)SB STRAINED-LAYER SUPERLATTICES GROWN ON THE (111) ORIENTATIONS/

Following the proposal of the extreme type-II InAs/(Ga,In)Sb strained layer superlattice system by Mailhiot and Smith in 1987 for long wavel ength infrared detection, a number of groups have experimentally inves tigated (100) oriented InAs/(Ga,In)Sb strained layer superlattices and demonstrated that these structures can possess energy gaps in the 8-1 2 mum range with absorption coefficients comparable to HgCdTe. However , a number of advantages are predicted if these structures are grown o n the {111} orientations. In this paper, we present details of our inv estigation of the growth of InAs/GaSb heterostructures and InAs/(Ga,In )Sb strained layer superlattices on the (111)A and (111)B orientations by molecular beam epitaxy, compared to growth on the (100) orientatio n. Heterojunction growth and incorporation rates of Sb (As) into InAs (GaSb) on (111)A, (111)B, and (100) orientations have been assessed an d implications for growth and optical properties of InAs/(Ga,In)Sb str ained layer superlattices are discussed. GaSb/InAs and InAs/GaSb inter faces on the (111)B orientation are investigated by x-ray photoelectro n spectroscopy, and the structural quality of InAs/(Ga,In)Sb strained layer superlattices are investigated by x-ray diffraction.