Semiconductor band gap localization via Gaussian function

To determine the band gap of bulk semiconductors with transmission spectroscopy alone is considered as an extremely difficult task because in the higher energy range, approaching and exceeding the band gap energy, the material is opaque yielding no useful data to be recorded. In this paper, by investigating the transmission of industrial GaSb wafers with a thickness of 500 µm, we demonstrate how these obstacles of transmission spectroscopy can be overcome. The key is the transmission spectrums' derivative, which coincides with the Gaussian function. This understanding can be used to transfer Beers' law in an integral form opening the pathway of band gap determinations based on mathematical parameters only. The work also emphasizes the correlation between the thermal band gap variation and Debye temperature.