Neutralization of Defects and Dopants in -V Semiconductors

LABORATOIRE D OPTIQUE DE LA MATIERE CONDENSEE UNIVERSITY P. ET M. CURIE PARIS, FRANCE 

GROUPE DE PHYSIQUE DES SOLIDES UNIVERSITY PARIS 7 PARIS, FRANCE 

Copyright 1991 by Academic Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. 

In theory, the III-V compound semiconductors and their alloys are made from a one to one proportion of elements of the III and V columns of the periodic table. Most of them crystallize in the sphalerite (zinc-blende ZnS) structure. This structure is very similar to that of diamond but in the III-V compounds, the two cfc sublattices are different the anion sublattice contains the group V atoms and the cation sublattice the group III atoms. An excess of one of the constituents in the melt or in the growing atmosphere can induce excess atoms of one type (group V for instance) to occupy sites of the opposite sublattice (cation sublattice). Such atoms are said to be in an antisite configuration. Other possibilities related with deviations from stoichiometry are the existence of vacancies (absence of atoms on atomic sites) on the sublattice of the less abundant constituent and/or of interstitial atoms of the most abundant one. 

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