Analysis of Temperature-Dependent Photoluminescence Spectra in Mid-Wavelength Infrared InAs/InAsSb Type-II Superlattice

Abstract Photoluminescence (PL) is one of the commonly used methods to determine the energy gap ( $${E}_{\mathrm{g}}$$ E g ) of semiconductors. In order to use it correctly, however, the shape of the PL peak must be properly analyzed; otherwise, the value of $${E}_{\mathrm{g}}$$ E g is burdened with a large error. $${E}_{\mathrm{g}}$$ E g is often mistakenly attributed to the PL peak position, which in type-II superlattices (T2SLs) exhibits typical “S-shaped” behavior as a function of temperature, significantly different from the Varshni model used to define the energy gap of III-V compounds. The position peak of the PL relative to the real $${E}_{\mathrm{g}}$$ E g in T2SLs is red-shifted because of the carrier localization at low temperatures and blue-shifted because of the free carrier emission at high temperatures. To correctly determine $${E}_{\mathrm{g}}$$ E g , the shape of the PL peak should be analyzed using the theoretical PL line shape model that takes into account both localized (below the bandgap) and free carriers (above the bandgap) emissions. This work shows that the use of such a model to analyze the shape of the PL signal gives the correct results of determining $${E}_{\mathrm{g}}$$ E g for mid-wave infrared InAs/InAsSb T2SL, which showed a significant contribution of localized states in optical transitions and characteristic “S-shaped” PL peak behavior. This allowed us to determine the correct values of the Varshni coefficients for a given T2SL. The result also agrees with the theoretical calculations of $${E}_{\mathrm{g}}$$ E g made using the k·p method.