Aqueous Sulfur Passivation of N-Type GaSb Substrates Studied by Photoluminescence Spectroscopy

Delia M Hurtado-Castañeda,Claudia Reyes-Betanzo,José S Arias-Cerón,Julio G Mendoza-Alvarez,José L Herrera-Perez,Patricia Rodriguez-Fragoso

doi:10.4236/ns.2014.612088

Delia M Hurtado-Castañeda, Claudia Reyes-Betanzo + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4236/ns.2014.612088

Copy DOI

Abstract

In this work the influence of aqueous sulfur passivation on the surface of n-type (100) GaSb single crystals has been studied through low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) characterization. The samples were passivated at different times using aqueous solutions of sodium sulfide. PL spectroscopy was used to determinate the optimum time of sulfur passivation, through the measurement of the PL intensity for the different passivation times. For the samples measured, the PL spectra show the presence of two emission bands, whose intensity and energy position change for the different passivation times of the GaSb samples. According to the PL results, a passivation surface treatment of 6 min shows the highest PL intensity spectrum.

Highlights

The development of GaSb-based semiconductor materials has been the subject of a wide research effort because of the great potential they have for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices in the near-infrared portion of the spectrum, such as lasers, photodetectors, solar cells and high-efficiency thermophotovoltaic cells, among others [1]
We have studied the passivation process of the GaSb single crystals using a solution of sodium sulfide (Na2S:9H2O) using different immersion times
The highest PL intensity occurs for the GaSb sample corresponding to a passivation time of 6 min, and it has a peak centered at 692 meV

Summary

Introduction

The development of GaSb-based semiconductor materials has been the subject of a wide research effort because of the great potential they have for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices in the near-infrared portion of the spectrum, such as lasers, photodetectors, solar cells and high-efficiency thermophotovoltaic cells, among others [1].How to cite this paper: Hurtado-Castañeda, D.M., Herrera-Perez, J.L., Arias-Cerón, J.S., Reyes-Betanzo, C., Rodriguez-Fragoso, P. and Mendoza-Alvarez, J.G. (2014) Aqueous Sulfur Passivation of N-Type GaSb Substrates Studied by Photoluminescence Spectroscopy. GaSb is highly reactive at room temperature and oxidizes in the presence of atmospheric oxygen producing native oxides such as Sb2O3 and Ga2O3 This increases the growth of an elemental antimony monolayer which is responsible for a drastic increase in the surface recombination velocity and the leak current. These could limit the semiconductor device performance [2] [3]. Sulfur wet passivation on the GaSb surface opens new possibilities for the development of optoelectronic devices fabricated using liquid phase epitaxy and molecular beam epitaxy growth methods [4] [7]

Methods

Results

Conclusion