Molecular beam epitaxial growth of the II-V semiconductor compound Zn3As2

Abstract

We report the first molecular beam epitaxial growth of the II-V semiconducting compound Zn3As2. Commensurate growth of the tetragonal crystal was obtained in the temperature range 300–360 °C on InP. Growth on GaAs was incommensurate due to larger lattice mismatch. The unintentionally doped material is p type. At room temperature, p∼5×1018 cm−3, μ=43 cm2/V s, and the absorption edge is at 0.99 eV. Low-temperature photoluminescence and Hall data suggest that the lowest acceptor level is very close in energy to the valence-band maxima. Optical absorption data suggest that the band gap associated with these valence-band maxima is indirect in nature. The direct band gap is slightly larger.