CASE-STUDIES OF METAL-III-V COMPOUND INTERACTIONS

The interactions between metal and III-V compound semiconductors have been under increasingly more intensive investigation since the early 1 980's. Over the years rather significant progress in understanding the interactions has been made by various laboratories. In this discussio n, we emphasize solid state reactions that are pertinent to the format ion of non-spiking contacts to n- and p-type AlGaAs and GaAs, as well as those that could induce compositional disordering in III-V superlat tice structures. Examples are given to illustrate the diverse applicat ion of simple reactions to microelectronics and optoelectronics.