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Indium phosphide

Indium phosphide (InP) is a semiconductor composed of indium and phosphorus. It is used in high-power and high-frequency electronics because of its superior electron velocity with respect to the more common semiconductors silicon and gallium arsenide. It also has a direct bandgap, making it useful for optoelectronics devices like laser diodes.

**Properties**
General
Name	Indium phosphide
Chemical Formula	In P
Appearance	Dark gray cubic crystals
Structure
Formula weight	145.79 amu
Lattice constant	0.58687 nm
Crystal structure	Zincblende
Physical
State of matter at STP	solid
Melting point at SP	1333 K
Boiling point at SP	?
Specific gravity	4.81
Electronic
Band gap at 300K	1.344 eV
Electron effective mass	0.073 m_e
Hole effective mass	0.64 m_e
Electron mobility at 300 K	0.46 m²/V·s
Hole mobility at 300 K	0.015 m²/V·s
Precautions
Toxic	?
Decompostion products	?
SI units were used where possible.

Indium phosphide also has one of the longest-lived optical phonons of any compound with the zincblende crystal structure.

The Sellmeier equation that describes how the optical refractive index for indium phosphide depends on wavelength is given by:

$n^2(\lambda) = 1 + 7.255 + \frac{2.316 \lambda^2 }{ \lambda^2 - 0.6263^2} + \frac{2.765 \lambda^2 }{ \lambda^2 - 32.935^2}$

where λ is the wavelength in micrometres.

10-26-2009 08:16:03
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