Growth of matched metallic ErP0.6As0.4 layers on GaAs in a molecular beam epitaxy system

Metallic layers of ErP0.6As0.4 have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs at 500 °C. The growth has been achieved by adjusting the PH3 and AsH3 flows to obtain a good lattice match to the substrate, the erbium flux remaining below the flux of the V elements. The 10–100 nm thick epitaxial layers reproducibly showed lattice mismatch below 5×10−4 and unlike the ErAs layers, they do not degrade in the atmosphere. Due to its low resistivity (ρ=80 μΩ cm), this compound is an ideal candidate for the realization of epitaxial III‐V semiconductor/metal/III‐V semiconductor heterostructures.