GaSb band-structure models for electron density determinations from Raman measurements

Published

April 21, 2023

Author(s)

Maicol Ochoa, James E. Maslar, Herbert S. Bennett

Abstract

We investigate the use of Raman spectroscopy to measure carrier concentrations in n-type GaSb epilayers with the goal of aiding in the development of this technique for nondestructive characterization of transport properties in doped semiconductors. The carrier concentration is quantified by modeling the measured coupled optical phonon-free carrier plasmon mode spectra. We employ the Lindhard-Mermin optical susceptibility model with contributions from carriers in the two lowest GaSb conduction band minima, the G and L minima. Furthermore, we evaluate three conduction band models: 1) both minima parabolic and isotropic; 2) the G minimum non-parabolic and isotropic and the L minima parabolic and isotropic; and 3) the G minimum non-parabolic and isotropic and the L minima parabolic and ellipsoidal. For a given epilayer, the carrier concentration determined from the spectral simulations was consistently higher for the model with the ellipsoidal L minima compared to the other two models. Direct comparison of the carrier concentrations from the Raman spectral measurements to those from the Hall effect measurements is difficult due to the GaSb conduction band structure. To evaluate the conduction band models, we calculated the L to G electron mobility ratio necessary for the electron concentrations from the Raman spectral measurements to reproduce those from the Hall effect measurements. We found that the model with the ellipsoidal L minima agreed best with reported carrier-dependent mobility ratio values. Hence, employing isotropic L minima in GaSb conduction band models, a common assumption when describing the GaSb conduction band, likely results in an underestimation of carrier concentration, at least at room temperature and for higher doping levels. This observation could have implications not only for Raman spectral modeling but also for any investigation involving the GaSb conduction band, e.g., modeling electrical measurements or calculating electron mobility.

Citation

Journal of Applied Physics

Volume

133

Issue

15

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0140357

Local Download

Keywords

Semiconductors, GaSb, Raman spectroscopy, electron density, band-structure models

Citation

Ochoa, M. , Maslar, J. and Bennett, H. (2023), GaSb band-structure models for electron density determinations from Raman measurements, Journal of Applied Physics, [online], https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0140357, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=935525 (Accessed April 30, 2024)