Influência do alumínio no comportamento segregacional do índio em ligas ternárias de Ga1-xInxSb

Abstract

Ternary alloys of III-V semiconductor materials, in particular Ga1-xInxSb, are ideal candidates for substrates because of the possibility to define the lattice constant as a function of concentration of the third element, indium, enabling the adjustment of the lattice parameter in accordance to the subsequent epitaxial layer. Therefore, the mono-crystallinity of the epitaxial layer is favored and the tensions at the interface layer/substrate are reduced, allowing to numerous possibilities and applications. Aluminum (Al) is considered an isoelectric dopant for Ga and In, meaning that it does not change the number of charge carriers, but increases the mobility in GaSb crystals. When Al is added to the Ga1-xInxSb ternary alloy, it can have influence over native defects passivating and/or compensating them. To understand the influence of Al on the distribution of indium (In) in ternary alloys of Ga1-xInxSb, pure and doped Ga0,8In0,2Sb crystals were obtained with approximately 1020 atoms/cm3 of Al using a vertical Bridgman system.Analysis by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and particle induced gamma ray emission (PIGE) were used for the structural and compositional characterization of the crystals. The obtained crystals of Ga0,8In0,2Sb, doped with aluminum or not, exhibited segregation of the third element, however, for Ga0,8In0,2Sb:Al crystals the segregation decreased. The crystals of Ga0,8In0,2Sb:Al presented a good structural homogeneity when compared to the undoped alloy, and they were free from cracks and micro cracks. All of the obtained crystals presented precipitates, twins and grains with different concentrations of In. In the crystals doped with aluminum, single regions were observed in the solidification direction, which can be associated to a more uniform distribution of indium.The small compositional variation observed in the crystals, in radial direction, and measured by PIXE, may be related to the solid-liquid interface’s quasi-equilibrium behavior. The results indicated that aluminum has influenced the indium distribution in the crystals, in the solidification direction, and the electrical properties imply that the aluminum may have contributed to the generation of accepter defects such as GaSb, InSb e AlSb, wherein the number of charge carriers increased in the doped crystals. The possibility of complex defects generation such as (VGaGaSb), (VGaInSb) e (VGaAlSb) cannot be excluded, since the charge mobility in the doped crystals decreased.