Molecular beam epitaxy growth of GaAs1-xBix

GaAs1-xBix epilayers with bismuth concentrations up to x = 3.1% were grown on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy. The Bi content in the films was measured by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction shows that GaAsBi is pseudomorphically strained to GaAs but that some structural disorder is present in the thick films. The extrapolation of the lattice constant of GaAsBi to the hypothetical zincblende GaBi alloy gives 6.33+/-0.06 Angstrom. Room-temperature photoluminescence of the GaAsBi epilayers is obtained and a significant redshift in the emission of GaAsBi of similar to84 meV per percent Bi is observed. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.