UC Santa Barbara

An investigation of the optical transmission properties of semimetallic ErAs films grown by molecular beam epitaxy reveals a maximum in transmission around 1.55 mu m. The semitransparent window extends from similar to 1.5 to 2.3 mu m. These films were found to have resistivities less than 7x10(-5) Omega cm and permit similar to 85% transmission for a 150 nm film and similar to 97% transmission for a 15 nm film with respect to a GaAs substrate at 1.55 mu m. These results suggest that ErAs may be a useful material for applications requiring transparent contacts from 1.5 to 2.3 mu m. Polycrystalline films of ErAs were grown on sapphire substrates to investigate optical properties of ErAs in the visible region. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.