Vertical transport through an InAs/GaSb heterojunction at high pressures and magnetic fields

<p>The conduction band of InAs lies lower in energy than the GaSb valence band. In order to preserve continuity of the Fermi level across the interface, charge transfer takes place resulting in a confined quasi two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in the In As and a confined quasi two dimensio...

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Main Authors: Khan-Cheema, U, Umar Manzoor Khan-Cheema
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 1996
Subjects:
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author Khan-Cheema, U
Umar Manzoor Khan-Cheema
author_facet Khan-Cheema, U
Umar Manzoor Khan-Cheema
author_sort Khan-Cheema, U
collection OXFORD
description <p>The conduction band of InAs lies lower in energy than the GaSb valence band. In order to preserve continuity of the Fermi level across the interface, charge transfer takes place resulting in a confined quasi two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in the In As and a confined quasi two dimensional hole gas (2DHG) in the GaSb.</p> <p>This is the first detailed study into vertical transport in an n-InAs/p-GaSb single heterojunction (SHET). Application of a forward bias (InAs negative with respect to GaSb) increases the 2DEG and 2DHG concentrations and, therefore, their confinement energies. Eventually a critical bias is reached where the electron confinement energy moves above the hole confinement energy (the theoretical voltage induced semimetallsemiconductor transition <em>V<sub>c</sub></em>). Any subsequent increase in voltage is expected to result in a current decrease, and a region of negative differential resistance (NDR) should occur.</p> <p>The SHET can be grown with two distinct interface types, 'InSb-like' and 'GaAslike'. This study shows for the first time that the SHET vertical transport characteristic is very dependent upon this interface monolayer. For example, the temperature dependence of the I/V trace in a SHET with a 'GaAs-like' interface is found to be weak, with similar current peak to valley ratios (PVR) at 300 and 77K. The 'InSblike' SHET, however has a PVR that is very close to 1 at 300K, rising above 2 at 77K.</p> <p>Hydrostatic pressure is used to alter reversibly the InAs conduction/GaSb valence band overlap Δ. Vertical transport measurements taken at pressure confirm that Δ reduces at the same rate for both interface types and that it is larger for the 'InSb-like' interface. Experimental I/V traces at various pressures are compared with the corresponding results from self-consistent band profile calculations. The subsequent discoveries are that NDR occurs after <em>V<sub>c</sub></em> for both interfaces, and that each interface supports a different conduction mechanism - with the 'GaAs-like' interface exhibiting NDR when the band overlap is calculated to be ~ -100 meV.</p> <p>Magnetic fields have been applied both perpendicular and parallel to the SHET interface. The perpendicular field results provide additional evidence that the conduction process must be different at both interfaces and that NDR occurs after <em>V<sub>c</sub></em>. Parallel field I/V traces reveal an entirely different response for the two interface types.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:fc7eef99-19d3-4d38-81c7-a84657282e8b2022-03-27T13:21:10ZVertical transport through an InAs/GaSb heterojunction at high pressures and magnetic fieldsThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:fc7eef99-19d3-4d38-81c7-a84657282e8bEffect of temperature onSemiconductorsHeterostructuresAnalysisEnglishPolonsky Theses Digitisation Project1996Khan-Cheema, UUmar Manzoor Khan-Cheema<p>The conduction band of InAs lies lower in energy than the GaSb valence band. In order to preserve continuity of the Fermi level across the interface, charge transfer takes place resulting in a confined quasi two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in the In As and a confined quasi two dimensional hole gas (2DHG) in the GaSb.</p> <p>This is the first detailed study into vertical transport in an n-InAs/p-GaSb single heterojunction (SHET). Application of a forward bias (InAs negative with respect to GaSb) increases the 2DEG and 2DHG concentrations and, therefore, their confinement energies. Eventually a critical bias is reached where the electron confinement energy moves above the hole confinement energy (the theoretical voltage induced semimetallsemiconductor transition <em>V<sub>c</sub></em>). Any subsequent increase in voltage is expected to result in a current decrease, and a region of negative differential resistance (NDR) should occur.</p> <p>The SHET can be grown with two distinct interface types, 'InSb-like' and 'GaAslike'. This study shows for the first time that the SHET vertical transport characteristic is very dependent upon this interface monolayer. For example, the temperature dependence of the I/V trace in a SHET with a 'GaAs-like' interface is found to be weak, with similar current peak to valley ratios (PVR) at 300 and 77K. The 'InSblike' SHET, however has a PVR that is very close to 1 at 300K, rising above 2 at 77K.</p> <p>Hydrostatic pressure is used to alter reversibly the InAs conduction/GaSb valence band overlap Δ. Vertical transport measurements taken at pressure confirm that Δ reduces at the same rate for both interface types and that it is larger for the 'InSb-like' interface. Experimental I/V traces at various pressures are compared with the corresponding results from self-consistent band profile calculations. The subsequent discoveries are that NDR occurs after <em>V<sub>c</sub></em> for both interfaces, and that each interface supports a different conduction mechanism - with the 'GaAs-like' interface exhibiting NDR when the band overlap is calculated to be ~ -100 meV.</p> <p>Magnetic fields have been applied both perpendicular and parallel to the SHET interface. The perpendicular field results provide additional evidence that the conduction process must be different at both interfaces and that NDR occurs after <em>V<sub>c</sub></em>. Parallel field I/V traces reveal an entirely different response for the two interface types.</p>
spellingShingle Effect of temperature on
Semiconductors
Heterostructures
Analysis
Khan-Cheema, U
Umar Manzoor Khan-Cheema
Vertical transport through an InAs/GaSb heterojunction at high pressures and magnetic fields
title Vertical transport through an InAs/GaSb heterojunction at high pressures and magnetic fields
title_full Vertical transport through an InAs/GaSb heterojunction at high pressures and magnetic fields
title_fullStr Vertical transport through an InAs/GaSb heterojunction at high pressures and magnetic fields
title_full_unstemmed Vertical transport through an InAs/GaSb heterojunction at high pressures and magnetic fields
title_short Vertical transport through an InAs/GaSb heterojunction at high pressures and magnetic fields
title_sort vertical transport through an inas gasb heterojunction at high pressures and magnetic fields
topic Effect of temperature on
Semiconductors
Heterostructures
Analysis
work_keys_str_mv AT khancheemau verticaltransportthroughaninasgasbheterojunctionathighpressuresandmagneticfields
AT umarmanzoorkhancheema verticaltransportthroughaninasgasbheterojunctionathighpressuresandmagneticfields