III-V aresenide-nitride semiconductor materials and devices

A compound III-V semiconductor material having an overall composition with at least one element from the group consisting of B, Al, Ga and In disposed at Group III lattice sites, and a concentration of both nitrogen atoms and arsenic atoms at Group V lattice sites, the number of nitrogen and arsenic atoms present at the Group V lattice sites within an immiscible region for arsenide-nitride material, said material comprises a series of layers of III-V semiconductor compounds, one set of said layers in said series having a substantial concentration of nitrogen atoms over arsenic atoms, another set of said layers in said series having a significant concentration of arsenic atom over nitrogen atoms, each of said layers being sufficiently thin to avoid the formation of defects due to mismatched lattices.

A compound semiconductor material having a zinc blende crystal lattice and an overall composition with at least one dement from the group consisting of B, Al, Ga and In disposed at group III lattice sites, and also including a concentration of N atoms of at least 2% disposed at group V lattice sites and a concentration of As atoms of at least 2% disposed at group V lattice sites,

• said compound semiconductor material comprising a direct bandgap material composed of In.sub.w Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x-w As.sub.1-y-z P.sub.z N.sub.y, where 0.ltoreq.w.ltoreq.1, 0.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.1, 0.02.ltoreq.y.ltoreq.0.98, 0.ltoreq.z.ltoreq.0.96 and 0.02.ltoreq.1-y-z.ltoreq.0.98, w, x, y, and z being chosen such that a lattice constant of the material is substantially matched with a lattice constant of a semiconductor substrate selected from the group consisting of GaP, Si, GaAs, Ge, InN, SiC, ZnSe, ZnO and diamond.

A semiconductor compound comprising a zinc-blende crystal material composed of a sequence of thin semiconductor compound layers in the monolayer regime disposed on top of one another, each thin layer in said sequence having at least one element from the group consisting of Al, B, Ga and In atoms disposed at Group III lattice sites and at least one element from the group consisting of As, P and N atoms disposed at Group V lattice sites, one set of said monolayer regime layers in said sequence having a substantial proportion of N atoms disposed at said Group V lattice sites and another set of said monolayer regime layers in said sequence having a substantial portion of As atoms disposed at said Group V lattice sites, said sets of layers sequentially chosen to provide a lattice constant that is less than 1% different from a lattice constant of a crystalline substrate upon which said monolayer regime layers are deposited while providing an overall direct bandgap level for the combined series of monolayer regime layers lower than the case where either the N or the As is absent from the material.

A III-V semiconductor material having at least one element from the group consisting of Al, Ga and In disposed at Group III lattice sites, and having at least nitrogen and arsenic disposed at Group V lattice sites,

• other elements which can be disposed at said Group V lattice sites being selectable from the group consisting of P and Sb,
• the concentration of nitrogen at said Group V lattice sites either about 5% or less or about 90% or more comprising a miscible region for said material when utilizing MOCVD, said nitrogen and arsenic being proportioned at said Group V lattice sites of said material within said nitrogen concentration so that said material is substantially lattice matched to a semiconductor substrate upon which said material is deposited, said nitrogen being chosen to achieve a specified energy gap reduction relative to the energy gap of comparable III-V semiconductor material where nitrogen is at 100% of said group V lattice sites.

A III-V semiconductor material having at least one element from the group consisting of Al, Ga and In disposed at group III lattice sites, and having at least nitrogen and arsenic disposed at group V lattice sites, other elements which can be disposed at the group V lattice sites being selectable from the group consisting of P and Sb, the concentration of nitrogen being at least 50% of the group V lattice sites and the concentration of arsenic and each other element at said group V lattice sites being chosen to achieve a specified energy gap reduction relative to comparable material with nitrogen at 100% of said group V lattice sites, a single crystal substrate upon which said material is formed being selected from the group consisting of InN, ZnO, SiC and Al.sub.2 O.sub.3.

A compound III-V semiconductor material having an overall composition with at least one element from the group consisting of B, Al, Ga and In disposed at Group III lattice sites, and also including a concentration of both nitrogen atoms and arsenic atoms at Group V lattice sites, the number of nitrogen atoms present at the Group V lattice sites is in an immiscible region for arsenide-nitride material, said material comprises a series of layers of III-V semiconductor compounds, one set of said layers in said series having a substantial concentration of nitrogen atoms over arsenic atoms, another set of said layers in said series having a substantial concentration of arsenic atoms over nitrogen atoms, each of said layers being sufficiently thin within the monolayer regime to avoid the formation of defects due to mismatched lattices.

A compound III-V semiconductor material comprising:

• an overall composition with at least one element from the group consisting of B, Al, Ga and In disposed at Group III lattice sites, and a concentration of both N atoms and As atoms at Group V lattice sites,
• the concentration of N atoms at said Group V lattice sites within a range of either about 5% or less than or about 90% or more than said As atoms,
• said N atoms and As atoms being proportioned at the Group V sites so as to be substantially lattice matched to said substrate and to reduce the direct bandgap to a desired level within said N atom concentration range.