Annealing-induced interfacial atomic intermixing in InAs/GaSb type II superlattices

• Published in: Applied physics letters Vol. 111; no. 17
• Main Authors: Li, Xiaochao, Zhang, Yong, Jiang, Dongwei, Guo, Fengyun, Zhao, Liancheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melville American Institute of Physics 23.10.2017
• Subjects: Annealing; Applied physics; Atomic structure; Dislocations; Gallium antimonides; Interdiffusion; Superlattices
• ISSN: 0003-6951; 1077-3118
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4999391

We have investigated the effect of post-growth rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on the interface structure and atomic intermixing of InAs/GaSb type II superlattices (T2SLs). It is found that the mechanism of interfacial atomic interdiffusion of the anion (In/Ga) and the cation (As/Sb) is different. The activation energies of 0.62 eV and 0.27 eV are calculated to describe the In/Ga and As/Sb interdiffusion. In T2SLs, RTA will promote As/Sb intermixing across the interfaces between 450 and 480 °C, while In/Ga intermixing will be activated at 500 °C annealing. This demonstrates that the appropriate In/Ga intermixing is important to control the deterioration of the interfacial quality and the formation of dislocations, which is very crucial for the device performance.