ABSTRACT
Dilute nitride alloys are a novel set of semiconductor alloys, of
interest both from a fundamental perspective and for awide range of
potential applications. Their properties are markedly different from
those of conventional alloys such as GaAs. This chapter presents
an overview of the unusual electronic structure of dilute nitride
alloys. We first describe that the band-anticrossing model provides
a good basis to understand the electronic properties of alloys
such as GaNAs and GaInNAs. We then apply the band-anticrossing
model, with suitable modifications, to analyze the key features of
the electronic structure. Finally we discuss the consequences of the
unusual electronic structure for the observed transport and optical
properties and for selected device applications.
