High-mobility InSb epitaxial films grown on a GaAs (001) substrate using liquid-phase epitaxy

The growth of epitaxial InSb layers on highly lattice-mismatched semi-insulating GaAs substrates has been achieved via traditional liquid-phase epitaxy. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy show sharp interfaces even at 35 nm resolution. High-resolution x-ray diffraction studies reveal reflections even up to 2θ=153° with distinct layer and substrate peaks, indicating structural coherence. The films grown were n type and the highest electron mobility obtained was 3.96×104 cm2/V s at room temperature. The band gap varies from 0.17 to 0.23 eV in the temperature range of 300–10 K and is consistent with the expected variation. These results indicate that the films grown are comparable to those grown by other sophisticated techniques in terms of structural, optical and electrical properties.