Extremely low surface recombination velocity in GaInAsSbAlGaAsSb heterostructures

Low surface recombination velocity is critical to the performance of minority carrier devices. Minority carrier lifetime in double heterostructures (DHs) of 0.53-eV p-GaInAsSb confined with 1.0-eV p-AlGaAsSb, and grown lattice-matched to GaSb, was measured by time-resolved photoluminescence. The structures were designed to be dominated by the heterointerface while minimizing the contribution of photon recycling to minority carrier lifetime. Surface recombination velocity as low as 30 cms for DHs was achieved. This value is over an order of magnitude lower than that reported in previous studies.