Deep-level transient spectroscopy of interfacial states in "buffer-free" p-i-n GaSb/GaAs devices

A systematic study was carried out on defect states in Interfacial Misfit (IMF) unpassivated and Te-passivated IMF in p-i-n GaSb/GaAs devices using Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) and Laplace DLTS. Additionally, Current-Voltage (I-V) measurements were performed, which showed that the turn-on voltage (V-on) of passivated samples is lower than that for unpassivated samples; an effect which can be explained by the introduction of new defects states near to the interface of GaSb/GaAs, where Te was incorporated to passivate the IMF. The Capacitance-Voltage (C-V) analysis demonstrates that these new states are the consequence of adding Te at the misfit of GaSb/GaAs. Furthermore, DLTS measurements reveal a distribution of states including a main midgap energy level, namely the well documented EL2 trap, with some peculiar behaviour. Most of these levels are related to interface states that are generated by the mismatch between GaAs and GaSb. Originally, the addition of Te atoms was thought to passivate these interface states. On the contrary, this paper, which attempts at correlating the current-voltage and capacitance-voltage characteristics to the DLTS results, shows clearly that Te atoms increase the density of interface states. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.