ELECTRONIC-STRUCTURE OF INP GA0.47IN0.53AS INTERFACES

The electronic structure of lattice-matched InP/Ga0.47In0.53As heterojunctions has been studied for the three main crystallographic orientations (001), (110), and (111), using state-of-the-art local-density techniques, and treating the GaxIn1-xAs alloy by the virtual-crystal approximation. The valence-band offset does not depend on the crystallographic orientation within our numerical accuracy (10 meV). Our results and, in particular, the orientation independence of the band offset are examined within a linear-response approach in which the interface is treated as a perturbation with respect to an average, periodic crystal. This approach also allows us to describe in a physically sound and quantitatively accurate way the effects of interfacial strain. The effects of disorder-induced and electron-correlation- induced self-energies are also briefly discussed. © 1990 The American Physical Society.