Quantitative theory of scattering in antimonide-based heterostructures with imperfect interfaces

We report quantitative calculations of carrier lifetimes in imperfect GaxIn 1-xSb/InAs superlattice structures. A microscopic description of imperfecti ons including substitutional anions and interface islands is obtained throu gh a novel strain-dependent empirical pseudopotential calculation. The T ma tric. of scattering theory is used to take our calculations of scattering l ifetimes beyond the Born approximation. including multiple scattering event s. Carrier lifetimes are related to the microscopic nature of the defects, their proximity to the interfaces, and the size and shape of interface isla nds. Anomalous effects due to lattice relaxation are seen to alter hole lif etimes, and their dependence upon position. For isolated isovalent anion de fects we predict electron and hole lifetimes as low as 0.2 and 0.8 mu s, re spectively, for typical defect concentrations. (C) 2000 American Vacuum Soc iety. [S0734-2101(00)07304-8].