Growth and characterization of GaAs-based III-V-N material for p-i-n photodectectors using antimony as a surfactant

Abstract

The work present in this thesis was initiated by the desire to design and fabricate a GaAs-based InGaAsN p-i-n photodetector operating at 1.3 µm, using solid source molecular beam epitaxy. III-V dilute nitrides such as the quaternary InGaAsN has attracted much attention due to its potential in optoelectronic device applications operating at the 1.3 and 1.55 µm wavelengths on the GaAs material system. These wavelengths are important for the next generation long-wavelength optical fiber communication systems. The conventional choices of active regions for lasers at these wavelengths are InGaAsP or InGaAs on InP substrates. However, these material systems exhibit poor temperature characteristics due to a shallow conduction band potential as compared to the III-V-N material system.