Electronic structures of Sb/Ga(Al)Sb (111) semimetal-semiconductor superlattices

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Abstract
The electronic structures of semimetal-semiconductor (Sb2)m/(GaSb)n (111) and (Sb2)m/(AlSb)n (111) (m,n≤10) superlattices are calculated by using a tight-binding theory including spin-orbit interaction. It is found that a narrow gap forms in these materials due to the quantum confinement effect. This may allow strong optical nonlinearity in the infrared region. With increasing the thickness of the Sb layer, a possible semiconductor-semimetal transition is suggested at a certain thickness. The influence of interface states on the formation of the band gap is investigated by adjusting the interface relaxation and band offsets. Our study shows that semimetal-semiconductor Sb/Ga(Al)Sb superlattices could potentially open a new possibility in electro-optical device manufactures.