OPTICAL PROPERTIES of GALLIUM PHOSPHIDE (Gap)
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ISSN: Journal of Natural Print - 2277 - 0593 Science, Engineering Online - 2315 - 7461 and Technology © FUNAAB 2014 OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF GALLIUM PHOSPHIDE (GaP) 1* J. O. AKINLAMI AND 1 O. A. OLATUNJI 1Department of Physics, Federal University of Agriculture, P.M.B 2240, Abeokuta *Corresponding author: [email protected], Tel: +23480343892950 ABSTRACT Optical properties of Gallium Phosphide (GaP) have been investigated by means of Kramers Kronig method. Optical properties such as refractive index, extinction coefficient, dielectric constant, transmit- tance, absorption coefficient, reflectance, reflection coefficient and optical conductivity are presented in the energy range 1.03 – 6.01eV. The calculated optical properties of GaP indicate promising device applications such as the design of optoelectronic devices, electronic and photonic devices. Key words: Complex Index of Refraction, Complex Dielectric Constant, Transmittance, Absorption Coefficient, Reflection Coefficient, Reflectance, Optical Conductivity, Semiconductor INTRODUCTION GaP and related compounds are important Wide–band–gap semiconductors have at- semiconductor materials that are used in a tracted a great deal of attention due to their variety of optoelectronic devices (Kish et al, strong potentials in light emitting diodes 1994, Hofler et al, 1998). In this work, optical (LEDs) operating in the blue-to-ultraviolet properties of Gallium Phosphide (GaP) have region. Gallium Phosphide GaP is a popular been investigated in the photon energy range semiconductor material and considered to 1.03–6.01eV. be a wide-band-gap semiconductor, making it a good candidate for room-temperature METHOD OF CALCULATION device applications. GaP has potential for Kramers-Kronig analysis of measured data ultraviolet, blue and blue-green detection obtained by Schubert (Schubert, 2004) was applications from 250nm to 500nm (Beck et used to obtain the optical properties of the al, 2002; Liu et al, 2002; Zhang et al, 2008). material in the study. The Reflection Coeffi- cient which measures the fractional ampli- GaP is among group III-V compounds tude of the reflected electromagnetic field is which has been extensively developed for given by (Fox, 2001) applications to optical devices, LEDs, and photo cells. It has been found to be im- n 1 ik portant for light emission devices in visible r n1 ik range (Hatami et al, 2006) and is one of the (1) most promising materials for development of solar cells (Epstein and Grove, 1965). where n is the refractive index and k is the J. Nat. Sci. Engr. & Tech. 2014, 13:18-27 18 J. O. AKINLAMI AND O. A. OLATUNJI extinction coefficient. 4k Kramers-Kronig relations is a mathematical (5) model that describe the existence of a fun- damental connection between the real and where k is the extinction coefficient and λ is imaginary part of the complex optical func- the wavelength. tions descriptive of the light-matter interac- tion phenomena, such as the dielectric func- The transmittance is obtained from the rela- tion or the index of refraction. The real and tion imaginary parts, which describe dispersive and absorptive phenomena, respectively, are R + T + A = 1 (6) not wholly independent, but are connected by a special form of the Hilbert transform, where R, T and A represent the reflectance, which are termed Kramers-Kronig rela- transmittance and absorbance respectively. tions. Kramers-Kronig analysis allows one The sum of these macroscopic quantities to calculate the energy dependence of both must equal unity since the incident radiant real and imaginary parts of a specimen’s flux at one wavelength is distributed totally light optical permittivity, together with oth- between reflected, transmitted and absorbed er optical properties such as the absorption intensity. The absorbance (A) is given by coefficient and reflectivity. Because of Kra- mers-Kronig relation, the energy depend- 1 A log ence of the real part of the refractive index R is related to the material absorption, de- (7) scribed by the imaginary part of the refrac- The optical response of a material can be tive index (also called the extinction coeffi- studied in terms of the optical conductivity cient). (σ) which is given by the relation (Sharma and Katyal, 2007) The Reflectance (R) is given by (Yu and Cardona, 1996) nc n12 k 2 4 (8) R n 12 k 2 (2) where c is the velocity of light, α is the ab- sorption coefficient and n is the refractive 2 2 index. It can be seen clearly that the optical E1 n k (3) conductivity directly depends on the absorp- tion coefficient and the refractive index of E 2nk the material. 2 (4) The absorption coefficient (α) can be calcu- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION lated using the equation (Pankove, 1971, The refractive index spectrum of GaP in the Swanepoel, 1983) energy range 1.03eV to 6.01eV is as shown in Figure 1. There is an increase in the re- fractive index in the energy range 1.20eV to J. Nat. Sci. Engr. & Tech. 2014, 13:18-27 19 OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF GALLIUM ... 3.65eV, with a peak value of 5.50 at 3.65eV as shown in Figure 1. 6 5 4 3 2 Refractive Index (n) Index Refractive 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Photon Energy (eV) Figure 1: Refractive Index of Gallium Phosphide (GaP) The refractive index decreases afterwards in and Kumabe, 1979) this difference is sus- the energy range 3.65–6.01eV. This de- pected to have come from the experimental crease in refractive index indicates that GaP procedures taken in the other works. Two shows normal dispersion behaviour. Our peaks are observed at 3.65eV and 4.80eV, result for refractive index is higher than that reported by Nelson and Turner (3.44) they are mainly due to transition (Zhang (Nelson and Turner, 1968) and Matsumoto et al 2011). and Kumabe (3.62 and 4.5) (Matsumoto 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 Extinction Coefficient (k) Coefficient Extinction 0.5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 -0.5 Photon Energy (eV) Figure 2: Extinction Coefficient of Gallium Phosphide (GaP) J. Nat. Sci. Engr. & Tech. 2014, 13:18-27 20 J. O. AKINLAMI AND O. A. OLATUNJI The extinction coefficient spectrum in the peaks are observed at 3.8 and 5.27eV, they energy range 1.03eV-6.01eV is as shown in Figure 2. There is an increase in extinction are mainly due to transition (Zhang et al; coefficient in the energy range 2.7 – 5.7eV 2011). as shown in figure 2. It has a peak value of 4.2 at 5.27eV and then decreases to a value Figure 3 shows the dielectric constant of of 2.3 at 6.01eV. The increase in extinction GaP. There is an increase in the real part of coefficient with increase in photon energy the dielectric constant of GaP in the energy in the energy range 2.7 – 5.7eV shows that range 1.1 – 3.61eV as shown in Figure 3. It the fraction of light lost due to scattering peaks at a value of 27.4 at 3.61eV. The in- and absorbance increases in this energy crease in dielectric constant with increase in range and the decrease in the extinction co- photon energy in the photon energy range efficient in the photon energy range 5.7 – 1.1 – 3.61eV shows that the loss factor in- 6.01eV shows that the fraction of light lost creases with increase in photon energy in this due to scattering and absorbance decreases energy range. The real part of the dielectric constant then decreases with increase in in this energy region. The extinction coeffi- cient is zero in the photon energy range photon energy in the photon energy range 1.03 – 2.7eV which means that GaP is 3.61 – 6.01eV with a minimum value of -12.5 transparent in this energy region. The peak at 5.34eV. This shows that the loss factor value of extinction coefficient indicates a decreases with increase in photon energy in good absorption in the energy range. Two this energy range. 30 25 20 15 Imaginary 10 part 5 0 Dielectric Constant 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 -5 -10 Real part -15 Photon Energy (eV) Figure 3: Dielectric Constant of Gallium Phosphide (GaP) J. Nat. Sci. Engr. & Tech. 2014, 13:18-27 21 OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF GALLIUM ... There is an increase in the imaginary part of with increase in photon energy in this energy the dielectric constant of GaP in the energy range. The imaginary part of the dielectric range 2.6 – 5.07eV as shown in figure 3. It constant then decreases in the energy range peaks at a value of 26.9 at 5.07eV. The in- 5.07 – 6.01eV which shows that the loss fac- crease in imaginary part of the complex die- tor decreases with increases in photon ener- lectric in the photon energy range 2.6 – gy in this energy range. 5.07eV shows that the loss factor increases 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 Transmittance (T) Transmittance 0.05 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Photon Energy (eV) Figure 4: Transmittance of Gallium Phosphide (GaP) Figure 4 shows the transmittance of GaP. coefficient then drops to a value of 1.39 x The transmittance of GaP peaks at a value 108 m-1 at 6.01eV. This high value of the ab- of 0.20 (20%) at 4.63eV indicating a low sorption coefficient is typical for interband transparent material. With a maximum of absorption in semiconductors (Sturge, 0.20 for transmittance it means that GaP is 1962.). It is important to emphasize that not a good transmitter of electromagnetic there is no absorption in the energy range wave in this energy region because for a 1.03 – 2.6eV which is the energy range of good transmitter the transmittance is 60% bandgap of GaP.