PHOTOREFLECTANCE AND ELECTROREFLECTANCE OF CUBIC BORON PHOSPHIDE

In order to reveal the band structure of cubic boron phosphide a photo -and electroreflectance study has been undertaken. Towards this end, e pitaxial thin films of this III-V semiconductor are grown on silicon ( 100) by chemical vapor deposition. Both modulated reflectance techniqu es reveal a critical point at 4.25 eV. The value of this first direct transition is more than 1 eV lower than previous reports, which are ba sed on transmission spectra. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [ S0021-8979(98)00203-5].