Transmission electron microscopy analysis of phase separation in GaInAsSb films grown on GaSb substrate.

The GaSb-based quaternary alloys are a good choice for thermophotovoltaic applications. The thermophotovoltaic cell converts infrared radiation to electricity, using the same principles as photovoltaic devices. The aim of the present work was the microstructural study of such an alloy, namely Ga(0.84)In(0.16)As(0.12)Sb(0.88). A thin film of the material was grown by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy on a (100)alpha-->[111]B (alpha = 2 degrees, 4 degrees, 6 degrees) GaSb substrate. The GaInAsSb alloy has an appropriate band gap, but suffers from a phase separation consisting of GaAs-rich and InSb-rich regions that is disadvantageous for cell efficiency. In this work, we employed a morphological approach to phase separation, with the use of conventional transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The phase separation occurs in two different orientations: parallel to the growth direction (vertical) and inclined (lateral). After application of fast Fourier transformation filtering, the vertical periodicity was found to be lambda = 5 nm for the pair (black and white) of layers independently of the cut-off angle, whereas the lateral periodicity was related to it.