Discrepancies in the nature of nitrogen incorporation in dilute-nitride GaSbN and GaAsN films

Abstract

The authors studied the incorporation of dilute concentrations of nitrogen into GaSb and GaAs. There is a dissimilar interaction of N-Sb compared to N-As for films grown in the same manner, as indicated by discrepancies in x-ray diffraction and chemical analysis, and consistent with measured changes in the bandgap. The N in GaSb1−xNx resides in a quantifiable, “dark” phase correlating with the larger negative impact on the GaSb1−xNx optical properties relative to GaAs1−xNx. The authors hypothesize that the missing N resides in a phase that is optically inactive or have a much wider bandgap than the matrix material.