Structural and electronic properties of BAs and BxGa1-xAs, BxIn1-xAs alloys

Structural and electronic properties of the BAs compound and BXGa1-xAs, BxIn1-xAs alloys are studied using first principles calculations. New results on elastic constants, acoustic phonons and optical phonons frequencies are reported. The 4 x 4 Kane's interaction matrix is calculated in order to ease simulations of optoelectronic devices. Effective masses and Luttinger parameters for the valence bands are calculated. BxGa1-xAs and BxIn1-xAs alloys are simulated using the virtual crystal approximation (VCA). The BxGa1-xAs alloy lattice-matched to GaP substrate is found to be an indirect band gap semiconductor. The BxIn1-xAs alloys lattice-matched to InP and GaAs substrates, are found to be direct band gap semiconductors. The BxIn1-xAs alloy is proposed as an alternative solution for epitaxial growth of nanostructures for electronic (field effect transistors) and optoelectronic (lasers, saturable absorbers) devices on InP substrate. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.