Bandgap engineering of GaInNP on GaAs(001) for electronic applications

Nitrogen incorporation dramatically reduces the Ga/sub 1-x/In/sub x/P band gap. Using the red shift of the photoluminescence spectrum of Ga/sub 0.46/In/sub 0.54/N/sub 0.005/P/sub 0.995//GaAs quantum wells, which indicates less quantum confinement, we estimate the valence band offset to be about 97% of the total band gap difference. N incorporation significantly reduces the free-electron concentration and mobility, and the free-electron concentration of Ga/sub 0.48/In/sub 0.52/N/sub 0.005/P/sub 0.995/ decreases dramatically with high-temperature annealing (800 /spl deg/C), from 4.4/spl times/10/sup 18/ to 8.0/spl times/10/sup 16/ cm/sup -3/. This is believed to be due to passivation of Si by N through the formation of Si-N pairs. Therefore, GaInNP is more suitable to be a thin layer as the hole-blocking layer for tunnel-collector HBTs. The large valence-band discontinuity and large hole effective mass would block holes, while there would be no electron barrier at the base-collector junction.