Anomalous behavior of the Fermi energy in heavily tin-doped InGaAs

We have measured the dependence of the Fermi energy on carrier concentration in Sn doped InGaAs at 4.2 K and 300 K. At 4.2 K the Fermi energy was measured by photoluminescence spectroscopy, and at 300 K it was deduced from transport measurements of thermionic emission. In both cases the dependence of the Fermi energy on the mobile electron concentration, measured by Hall effect, strongly deviates from standard theoretical predictions, and the deviation increases with concentration. The most striking observed anomaly is the near saturation of the Fermi level when the Hall concentration exceeds 10¹⁹ cm^-3. Received 19 April 2001 and Received in final form 22 July 2001