As2S3/GaAs, a new amorphous/crystalline heterojunction for the III-V semiconductors

Much of the technology of our era is based on the SiO2/Si amorphous/crystalline heterojunction interface. Now it appears that As2S3/GaAs amorphous/crystalline heterojunctions show some technological promise. We have found that properly prepared As2S3/GaAs interfaces can have reasonably good electronic quality. The interfacial recombination velocity is ≊15 000 cm/s at flat band, which results in a ∼100-fold reduction of perimeter recombination currents in p-n junction mesas. This can be important on heterojunction transistor emitter-base perimeters, solar cell and light-emitting diode perimeters, and for reducing mirror facet recombination in semiconductor lasers.