Resolving the band alignment of InAs/InAsSb mid-wave-infrared type-II superlattices

Abstract

In this work, three InAs/InAs$_{0.65}$Sb$_{0.35}$ superlattices with different periods were investigated using photoluminescence and photoreflectance measurements and their band structure was simulated using a 14 bulk-band kp model. The structures were studied by analyzing the evolution of the spectral features in temperature and excitation power to determine the origin of optical transitions. After identifying which of these are related to the superlattice mini-bands, a rich collection of observed higher-order optical transitions was compared with refractive-index calculations. This procedure was used to adjust the parameters of the theoretical model, namely the bowing parameters of the InAsSb valence band offset and bandgap. It was also shown that the spectroscopy of the higher-order states combined with numerical modeling of the refractive index is a powerful tool for improvement of the material parameters, presenting a new approach to material studies of advanced semiconductor heterostructures.