Effect of Phosphine Pressure on the Band Gap of Ga0.5In0.5P

The band gap of Ga_0.5In_0.5P is studied as a function of phosphine pressure, B-type substrate misorientation, growth rate, and growth temperature, with emphasis placed on the effect of the phosphine pressure. Over most of the parameter space explored (high temperatures, large substrate misorientations, and low growth rates), the band gap increases with decreasing phosphine. This increase is proposed to be caused by lower phosphorus coverage of the surface, resulting in a different surface structure that doesn't promote ordering. The implications of this effect on the observed variations of band gap with growth temperature, substrate misorientation, and growth rate are discussed. For regions of parameter space in which the ordering appears to be kinetically limited by surface diffusion, the band gap increases slightly with phosphine pressure, consistent with observations that increased group-V pressure decreases the group-III surface diffusion length.