Band Edge Optical Absorption of Molecular Beam Epitaxial GaSb Grown on Semi-Insulating GaAs Substrate

The optical absorption of the band edge of GaSb layers grown on semi-insulating GaAs substrates by the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technique is studied as a function of temperature. A free exciton absorption peak at 0.807 eV was observed at 10 K. The free exciton line is observed in either thick samples (5 μm thick) or samples with ~0.1 μm thick AlSb buffer layers. The latter samples suggest that the AlSb buffer layer is very effective in preventing some of the dislocations from propagating into the MBE GaSb layers. The fitting of the band gap of the GaSb layers as a function of temperature gives a Debye temperature different than that of the bulk GaSb calculated from the elastic constants.