Deliberately designed interfaces for monolithic integration in optoelectronics

A novel class of semiconductors is introduced, based on computational desig n, to solve the long-standing problem of lattice and polarity mismatch in h eteroepitaxial growth of III-V alloys on silicon substrates. Ab initio tota l-energy calculations and quasiparticle CW calculations are used to investi gate the physical properties of these new semiconductors. One particular co nfiguration is designed to match lattice constant and polarity with the Si( 100) surface and to possess a direct band gap of 1.59 mu m, which is close to the canonical frequency used by the optoelectronics industry. These resu lts could pave the way for eventual monolithic integration of optical mater ials on silicon. (C) 1999 American Vacuum Society. [S0734-211X(99)04104-9].