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Deep Levels in Superlattices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

John D. Dow,
Shang Yuan Ren,
Jun Shen and
Min-Hsiung Tsai
John D. Dow
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 U.S.A.
Shang Yuan Ren
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 U.S.A.
Jun Shen
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 U.S.A.
Min-Hsiung Tsai
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 U.S.A.
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Abstract

The physics of deep levels in semiconductors is reviewed, with emphasis on the fact that all substitutional impurities produce deep levels - some of which may not lie within the fundamental band gap. The character of a dopant changes when one of the deep levels moves into or out of the fundamental gap in response to a perturbation such as pressure or change of host composition. For example, Si on a Ga site in GaAs is a shallow donor, but becomes a deep trap for x>0.3 in AℓxGa1-xAs. Such shallow-deep transitions can be induced in superlattices by changing the period-widths and quantum confinement. A good rule of thumb for deep levels in superlattices is that the energy levels with respect to vacuum are relatively insensitive (on a >0.1 eV scale) to superlattice period-widths, but that the band edges of the superlattices are sensitive to changes of period. Hence the deep level positions relative to the band edges are sensitive to the period-widths, and shallow-deep transitions can be induced by band-gap engineering the superlattice periods.

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