Tunability of the piezoelectric fields in strained III-V semiconductors

Abstract

In this work we show that tetragonal strain can be used to create a sign reversal of the piezoelectric field in InAs/GaAs semiconductor heterostructures. The strain dependence of the internal displacement of the cation-anion pairs and of the bond polarity are taken into account, beyond the linear model, within an ab initio scheme. The reported tunability of the piezoelectric field is a concept that can be exploited in optoelectronic devices. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.