INDIUM ARSENIDE - A SEMICONDUCTOR FOR HIGH-SPEED AND ELECTROOPTICAL DEVICES

Indium arsenide is a direct gap semiconductor (0.36 eV at 300 K and 0. 40 eV at 77 K) with high electron mobility (greater than 20 000 cm2 V- 1 s-1 at 300 K and approximately 60 000 cm2 V-1 s-1 at 77 K). The hole mobilities are in the range 100-400 cm2 V-1 s-1. ItS electro-optical properties are of interest for the IR range out to about 3 mum and to 8 mum in conjunction with In(As,Sb) alloys. Lattice matched heterojunc tions can be obtained with alloys such as AlxGa1-x- AsySb1-y. InAs has also been grown on a range of non-lattice-matched semiconductors such as GaSb, InP, GaAs and AlSb, and has exhibited interesting quantum we ll actions. The field effect transistor (FET) and modulated doped fiel d effect transistor (MODFET) properties are promising but have not bee n fully developed. The low field for avalanche action (about 10(5) V-1 s-1) presents some device limitations.