Electron density effects in the modulation spectroscopy of strained and lattice-matched InGaAs/InAlAs/InP high-electron-mobility transistor structures

The effects of the channel electron density on the interband optical transitions of strained (x=0.6 and 0.65) and lattice-matched (x=0.53) InxGa1−xAs/In0.52Al0.48As/InP high-electron-mobility transistor structures have been investigated by phototransmittance at room temperature. Analysis of the ground and first excited transitions for low and high densities, respectively, enabled a separate estimation of the electron densities occupying each one of the first two subbands. It was found necessary to include the modulation of the phase-space filling in the analysis of the spectra, especially for the samples with a high electron density, in which case this modulation mechanism becomes dominant.