Direct measurement of band offsets on selective area grown In0.53Ga0.47As/InP heterojunction with multiple probe scanning tunneling microscopy

The knowledge of the band alignment in semiconductor heterostructures is crucial, as it governs carrier confinement with many impacts on the performances of devices. By controlling the direction of the current flow in in-plane In0.53Ga0.47As/InP heterostructure nanowires, either horizontally along the nanowires or vertically into the InP substrate with low temperature multiple-probe tunneling spectroscopy, a direct measurement of the band offsets at the buried In0.53Ga0.47As/InP heterointerface is performed. Despite the unavoidable processing steps involved in selective area epitaxy, conduction and valence band offsets of 0.21 +/- 0.01 and 0.40 +/- 0.01 eV are, respectively, found, indicating the formation of an interface with a quality comparable to two-dimensional In0.53Ga0.47As/InP heterostructures. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.