Aug 15 2013
Gallium arsenide phosphide is a semiconductor material and an alloy of gallium phosphide and gallium arsenide. It exists in various composition ratios denoted by x in its formula.
Applications
Gallium arsenide phosphide is often developed on gallium phosphide substrates to form a GaP/GaAsP heterostructure. It is used for manufacturing red, orange and yellow light-emitting diodes. Planar-structure red semiconductor lamps with prolonged service life and high stability have been made using gallium arsenide-phosphide. It is also doped with nitrogen to adjust its electronic properties.
Chemical Properties
The chemical properties of gallium arsenide phosphide are provided in the table below:
| Chemical Properties |
| Chemical Formula |
GaAsP |
| CAS No. |
210471-34-4 |
| Group |
Gallium – 13
Arsenic – 15
Phosphorus - 15 |
Electrical Properties
The electrical properties of gallium arsenide phosphide are provided in the table below:
| Electrical Properties |
| Intrinsic Carrier Concentration (@ x = 0.45) |
18.9 x 10-18 cm-3 |
| Band Gap (@ x = 0.45) |
1.98 eV |
| Electron Mobility (@ x = 0.45) |
260 cm2/Vs |
Recent Development
The energy conversion efficiency of a silicon solar cell-based system can be improved by adding a GaAsP solar cell placed on top of the array. McNeely, JB et al (1984) fabricated a GaAsP solar cell on a transparent GaP substrate.
The solar cell can be placed in series with the silicon solar cell for a two-wire system, or the array can be wired separately for a four-wire system. It was found that the top solar cell has an energy gap between 1.77 and 2.09 eV for optimum energy conversion efficiency.
Ames GH (1996) presented a theoretical analysis of the performance of InGaAsP multi-quantum well electro-absorption modulators using a comprehensive model of the quantum-confined Stark effect.
The theoretical model was used to optimize modulator device design, through the calculation of thousands of design combinations of device length, well number, well width, barrier width, well composition, and applied voltage.
It was observed from the experimental results that long-distance transmission performance can be optimized with negative values of a specific chirp parameter called the 3dB Henry factor. Also, the loss can be reduced by optimum choice of device length, well number, and barrier width, while it can be compensated by an optical amplifier. Hence, it is possible to choose the optimum well width using this model.