Short-period strain-balanced GaAs1-xNx/InAs1-xNx superlattices lattice matched to InP(001):: A material for 0.4-0.6 eV midinfrared applications -: art. no. 073309

A theoretical investigation of the electronic band structure in the vicinity of the Gamma point of GaAs1-xNx/InAs1-xNx short period superlattices strain balanced to (001)InP is performed using a transfer-matrix method. First, a six-band Kane Hamiltonian and a band anticrossing model, modified for the strain effects, are used to describe the electronic states of the highly strained zincblende GaAs1-xNx and InAs1-xNx ternaries. The evolution of the conduction-band minima and valence subbands maxima of GaAs1-xNx and InAs1-xNx as a function of the nitrogen composition (x <= 0.05) indicate the occurrence of the type-I band alignment for the superlattice involving the m(j)=+/- 3/2 valence subbands (with both hole and electron wells in InAs1-xNx) and a type-II band alignment for the one that involves the m(j)=+/- 1/2 valence subbands (with electron wells in InAs1-xNx and m(j)=+/- 1/2 hole wells in GaAs1-xNx). Room-temperature operating wavelengths, as characterized by the energy gap between the first electron miniband and hole minibands of these short period superlattices, are predicted to extend beyond 2 mu m for x > 0.01 and to exceed 3.22 mu m for x=0.05.