A Review of the Electrical and Optical Properties of III–V Compound Semiconductor Films

Abstract

In recent years a better understanding has become available of the origin and characteristic electrical and optical properties of intermetallic semiconducting III–V compounds. This is due to the strong feedback coupling between fundamental research concerned with their electronic band structure and applied research concerned with the synthesis, growth, and technological applications of these compounds in bulk, thin film, and epitaxial layers. The charge carrier transport phenomena and the spectral response of films and layers will be described and compared to corresponding properties of bulk crystalline compounds. Particular emphasis will be placed on the narrow bandgap semiconductors InSb and InAs and on the indirect bandgap alloy GaP. It will be shown that the electrical and galvanomagnetic coefficients of III–V compound films are strongly dependent and their optical parameters are only weakly dependent on crystalline order. Electrical and optical properties exhibit a strong dependence on the type, size, and distribution of inhomogeneities. The properties and applications of spatially ordered inhomogeneities will be described with specific reference to InSb films.