Impurity reduction in In0.53Ga0.47As layers grown by liquid phase epitaxy using Er-treated melts

Hall mobility and carrier concentration measurements are done on In0.53Ga0. 47As layers grown by liquid phase epitaxy from melts containing 0.1-0.18 wt % Er. The carrier concentration in the layer decreased to 2x10(14) cm(-3) upon the addition of 0.16 wt % Er to the growth melt but the corresponding mobility of the layer increased only marginally. A detailed analysis of the temperature-dependent Hall mobility data for the samples using a theoretic al curve fitting technique revealed that the donor impurities in the materi al are reduced to a greater extent compared to the acceptors, making the la yers compensated. The experimental mobilities are further compared with the published values of theoretically calculated mobilities for InGaAs with si milar compensations. It is shown that the space charge scattering effects a re to be considered in order to get a good agreement between the experiment al and the theoretical values. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S00 03-6951(00)03212-5].