Electrical, Optical, and Structural Stability Over Ten Years for Sb Based III-V Semiconducting Bulk Grown by VDS

Abstract

III-V semiconductors have an advantage of not being degraded with time at room temperature, among non-silica semiconductors. This stability property is useful at the places where frequent device replacement is not possible. Determination of stability parameters are needed to be studied prior to their application as a junction substrate. The Vertical Directional Solidification (VDS) technique is employed for the growth of bulk crystals, without the seed, without contact to the ampoule wall, without coating, and without external pressure. The antimony based III-V substrates have been studied before and after an interval of ten years for any possible degradation in quality that may affect their applicability. XRF, EDAX, FTIR, XRD, Raman, and resistivity measurements methods were used to measure compositional optical, structural, and electrical consistency over the time. These bulk crystals revealed a high degree of stability within experimental limits for more than ten years, including intact crystalline structure, no formation of oxides, compositional stability, and no significant variation in band gap and resistivity, and hence still appropriate to be applied in semiconductor junction fabrications.