On the predictive, quantitative properties of the amphoteric native defect model

Abstract

The amphoteric native defect model phenomenologically explains and categorizes observed background doping concentrations and accounts for the doping limitations in compound semiconductors. Here, we test and verify the model’s capabilities as a quantitative, predictive tool. We demonstrate that the nature, (donor or acceptor), of non-stoichiometry related vacancy-like defects in the (Al,Ga,In)(As,Sb) system is determined by the position of the intrinsic Fermi energy, EFi at the growth temperature relative to the Fermi level stabilization energy, EFS, a universal energy reference located at 4.9 eV below the vacuum level. We show that a dramatic and predictable conduction type-flip from n- to p-type occurs when EFi is deliberately shifted from below to above EFS.