Temperature dependence of the energy gap and free carrier absorption in bulk InAs0.05Sb0.95 single crystals

Temperature dependence of the energy gap and free carrier absorption in a high-quality InAs0.05Sb0.95 single crystal was studied between 90 K and 430 K through the absorption spectra. At this alloy concentration, the room-temperature energy gap was measured to be 0.15 eV. Varshni- and the Bose-Einstein-type fit parameters were obtained from the measured temperature dependence of the energy gap, and the latter gave the zero-temperature gap to be 0.214 eV. It was found that although Weider's empirical formula for the dependence of the energy gap on temperature and the alloy concentration agrees with the value of the gap at room temperature, it is inaccurate in describing its temperature dependence. From the free carrier absorption measurements, the phonon limited cross section of 7.35x10(-16) cm(2) at 15 mum was deduced at room temperature. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.