Microhardness, phase transition, acoustic wave velocities and melting temperature of AlxGa1−xSb

Abstract

The band structure of Al[Formula: see text]Ga[Formula: see text]Sb semiconducting ternary alloys and their related properties such as elastic constants, microhardness, transition pressure to the first phase, acoustic wave velocities and melting temperature have been investigated. The calculations are performed using a pseudopotential approach within the virtual crystal approximation which includes the effect of compositional disorder as an effective potential. Generally, our results are found to be in good accord with the experimental results. The composition dependence of all features of interest showed a monotonic behavior and suggests that the stiffness, hardness and structural stability becomes better in Al[Formula: see text]Ga[Formula: see text]Sb for higher Al concentrations. The bulk sound speeds and melting temperature are found to become larger when increasing the Al content.