gallium arsenide

chemical compound
Also known as: GaAs

Learn about this topic in these articles:

arsenic

covalent bonding

crystal growth

gallium

  • gallium
    In gallium

    , gallium nitride, GaN, gallium arsenide, GaAs, and indium gallium arsenide phosphide, InGaAsP—that have valuable semiconductor and optoelectronic properties. Some of these compounds are used in solid-state devices such as transistors and rectifiers, and some form the basis for light-emitting diodes and semiconductor lasers. GaN nanowires have been synthesized…

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integrated circuits

  • integrated circuit
    In integrated circuit: Monolithic microwave ICs

    …circuits, and so the compound gallium arsenide (GaAs) is often used for MMICs. Unfortunately, GaAs is mechanically much less sound than silicon. It breaks easily, so GaAs wafers are usually much more expensive to build than silicon wafers.

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  • electron hole: movement
    In materials science: III–V compounds

    …arsenic, the semiconductor is called gallium arsenide, or GaAs. However, other elements such as indium, phosphorus, and aluminum are often used in the compound to achieve specific performance characteristics.

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lasers and light-emitting diodes

LED

  • Light-emitting diodes have largely replaced older lighting technologies, such as incandescent bulbs
    In LED

    …most often in LEDs is gallium arsenide, though there are many variations on this basic compound, such as aluminum gallium arsenide or aluminum gallium indium phosphide. These compounds are members of the “III-V” group of semiconductors—that is, compounds made of elements listed in columns III and V of the periodic…

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optoelectronics

semiconductor properties

solar cells

  • diagram of a solar cell structure
    In solar cell: Development of solar cells

    …as cells made of gallium arsenide, with efficiencies of more than 20 percent had been fabricated. In 1989 a concentrator solar cell in which sunlight was concentrated onto the cell surface by means of lenses achieved an efficiency of 37 percent owing to the increased intensity of the collected energy.…

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