Narrow-gap semiconductor

Narrow-gap semiconductors are semiconducting materials with a magnitude of bandgap that is smaller than 0.7 eV, which corresponds to an infrared absorption cut-off wavelength over 2.5 micron. A more extended definition includes all semiconductors with bandgaps smaller than silicon (1.1 eV).^[1][2] Modern terahertz,^[3] infrared,^[4] and thermographic^[5] technologies are all based on this class of semiconductors.

Narrow-gap materials made it possible to realize satellite remote sensing,^[6] photonic integrated circuits for telecommunications,^[7][8][9] and unmanned vehicle Li-Fi systems,^[10] in the regime of Infrared detector and infrared vision.^[11][12] They are also the materials basis for terahertz technology, including security surveillance of concealed weapon uncovering,^[13][14][15] safe medical and industrial imaging with terahertz tomography,^[16][17][18] as well as dielectric wakefield accelerators.^[19][20][21] Besides, thermophotovoltaics embedded with narrow-gap semiconductors can potentially use the traditionally wasted portion of solar energy that takes up ~49% of the sun light spectrum.^[22][23] Spacecraft, deep ocean instruments, and vacuum physics setups use narrow-gap semiconductors to achieve cryogenic cooling.^[24][25]

List of narrow-gap semiconductors

Name	Chemical formula	Groups	Band gap (300 K)
Mercury cadmium telluride	Hg1−xCdxTe	II-VI	0 to 1.5 eV
Mercury zinc telluride	Hg1−xZnxTe	II-VI	0.15 to 2.25 eV
Lead selenide	PbSe	IV-VI	0.27 eV
Lead(II) sulfide	PbS	IV-VI	0.37 eV
Telenium	Te	VI	~0.3 eV
Lead telluride	PbTe	IV-VI	0.32 eV
Magnetite	Fe3O4	Transition Metal-VI	0.14 eV
Indium arsenide	InAs	III-V	0.354 eV
Indium antimonide	InSb	III-V	0.17 eV
Germanium	Ge	IV	0.67 eV
Gallium antimonide	GaSb	III-V	0.67 eV
Cadmium arsenide	Cd3As2	II-V	0.5 to 0.6 eV
Bismuth telluride	Bi2Te3		0.21 eV
Tin telluride	SnTe	IV-VI	0.18 eV
Tin selenide	SnSe	IV-VI	0.9 eV
Silver(I) selenide	Ag2Se		0.07 eV
Magnesium silicide	Mg2Si	II-IV	0.79 eV[26]

See also

• List of semiconductor materials
• Wide-bandgap semiconductor

References

1. Li, Xiao-Hui (2022). "Narrow-Bandgap Materials for Optoelectronics Applications". Frontiers of Physics. 17 (1): 13304. Bibcode:2022FrPhy..1713304L. doi:10.1007/s11467-021-1055-z. S2CID 237652629.
2. Chu, Junhao; Sher, Arden (2008). Physics and Properties of Narrow Gap Semiconductors. Springer. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-74801-6. ISBN 978-0-387-74743-9.
3. Jones, Graham A.; Layer, David H.; Osenkowsky, Thomas G. (2007). National Association of Broadcasters Engineering Handbook. Taylor and Francis. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-136-03410-7.
4. Avraham, M.; Nemirovsky, J.; Blank, T.; Golan, G.; Nemirovsky, Y. (2022). "Toward an Accurate IR Remote Sensing of Body Temperature Radiometer Based on a Novel IR Sensing System Dubbed Digital TMOS". Micromachines. 13 (5): 703. doi:10.3390/mi13050703. PMC 9145132. PMID 35630174.
5. Hapke B (19 January 2012). Theory of Reflectance and Emittance Spectroscopy. Cambridge University Press. p. 416. ISBN 978-0-521-88349-8.
6. Lovett, D. R. Semimetals and narrow-bandgap semiconductors; Pion Limited: London, 1977; Chapter 7.
7. Inside Telecom Staff (30 July 2022). "How Can Photonic Chips Help to Create a Sustainable Digital Infrastructure?". Inside Telecom. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
8. Awad, Ehab (October 2018). "Bidirectional Mode Slicing and Re-Combining for Mode Conversion in Planar Waveguides". IEEE Access. 6 (1): 55937. doi:10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2873278. S2CID 53043619.
9. Vergyris, Panagiotis (16 June 2022). "Integrated photonics for quantum applications". Laser Focus World. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
10. "Comprehensive Summary of Modulation Techniques for LiFi | LiFi Research". www.lifi.eng.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
11. "The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)". Spitzer Space Telescope. NASA / JPL / Caltech. Archived from the original on 13 June 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
12. Szondy, David (28 August 2016). "Spitzer goes "Beyond" for final mission". New Atlas. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
13. "Space in Images – 2002–06 – Meeting the team".
14. "Space camera blazes new terahertz trails". Times Higher Education (THE). 2003-02-12. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
15. Winner of the 2003/04 Research Councils' Business Plan Competition – 24 February 2004. epsrc.ac.uk. 27 February 2004
16. Guillet, J. P.; Recur, B.; Frederique, L.; Bousquet, B.; Canioni, L.; Manek-Hönninger, I.; Desbarats, P.; Mounaix, P. (2014). "Review of Terahertz Tomography Techniques". Journal of Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves. 35 (4): 382–411. Bibcode:2014JIMTW..35..382G. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.480.4173. doi:10.1007/s10762-014-0057-0. S2CID 120535020.
17. Mittleman, Daniel M.; Hunsche, Stefan; Boivin, Luc; Nuss, Martin C. (1997). "T-ray tomography". Optics Letters. 22 (12): 904–906. Bibcode:1997OptL...22..904M. doi:10.1364/OL.22.000904. ISSN 1539-4794. PMID 18185701.
18. Katayama, I.; Akai, R.; Bito, M.; Shimosato, H.; Miyamoto, K.; Ito, H.; Ashida, M. (2010). "Ultrabroadband terahertz generation using 4-N,N-dimethylamino-4′-N′-methyl-stilbazolium tosylate single crystals". Applied Physics Letters. 97 (2): 021105. Bibcode:2010ApPhL..97b1105K. doi:10.1063/1.3463452. ISSN 0003-6951.
19. Dolgashev, Valery; Tantawi, Sami; Higashi, Yasuo; Spataro, Bruno (2010-10-25). "Geometric dependence of radio-frequency breakdown in normal conducting accelerating structures". Applied Physics Letters. 97 (17): 171501. Bibcode:2010ApPhL..97q1501D. doi:10.1063/1.3505339.
20. Nanni, Emilio A.; Huang, Wenqian R.; Hong, Kyung-Han; Ravi, Koustuban; Fallahi, Arya; Moriena, Gustavo; Dwayne Miller, R. J.; Kärtner, Franz X. (2015-10-06). "Terahertz-driven linear electron acceleration". Nature Communications. 6 (1): 8486. arXiv:1411.4709. Bibcode:2015NatCo...6.8486N. doi:10.1038/ncomms9486. PMC 4600735. PMID 26439410.
21. Jing, Chunguang (2016). "Dielectric Wakefield Accelerators". Reviews of Accelerator Science and Technology. 09 (6): 127–149. Bibcode:2016RvAST...9..127J. doi:10.1142/s1793626816300061.
22. Poortmans, Jef. "IMEC website: Photovoltaic Stacks". Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
23. "A new heat engine with no moving parts is as efficient as a steam turbine". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 13 April 2022. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
24. Radebaugh, Ray (2009-03-31). "Cryocoolers: the state of the art and recent developments". Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. 21 (16): 164219. Bibcode:2009JPCM...21p4219R. doi:10.1088/0953-8984/21/16/164219. ISSN 0953-8984. PMID 21825399. S2CID 22695540.
25. Cooper, Bernard E; Hadfield, Robert H (2022-06-28). "Viewpoint: Compact cryogenics for superconducting photon detectors". Superconductor Science and Technology. 35 (8): 080501. Bibcode:2022SuScT..35h0501C. doi:10.1088/1361-6668/ac76e9. ISSN 0953-2048. S2CID 249534834.
26. Nelson, James T. (1955). "Chicago Section: 1. Electrical and optical properties of MgPSn and Mg₂Si". American Journal of Physics. 23 (6). American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT): 390. doi:10.1119/1.1934018. ISSN 0002-9505.

Further reading

• Dornhaus, R., Nimtz, G., Schlicht, B. (1983). Narrow-Gap Semiconductors. Springer Tracts in Modern Physics 98, ISBN 978-3-540-12091-9 (print) ISBN 978-3-540-39531-7 (online)
• Nimtz, Günter (1980). "Recombination in narrow-gap semiconductors". Physics Reports. 63 (5): 265–300. Bibcode:1980PhR....63..265N. doi:10.1016/0370-1573(80)90113-1. ISSN 0370-1573.