Isoelectronic traps in heavily doped GaAs:(In,N)

Abstract

GaAs samples doped with low indium and nitrogen contents were investigated by continuous-wave (CWPL) and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) at low temperature (10 K). The simultaneous incorporation of doping amounts of both indium and nitrogen elements in GaAs creates new isoelectronic traps that are not present in indium-free GaAs:N. These traps are built from nitrogen-related defects of GaAs:N now perturbated by one additional indium atom. They are believed to involve a preferential 〈111〉 orientation of the In atom and of one N atom in near-neighbor positions. The experiments are consistent with the assumption that the clusters are perturbed by a single In atom but that a definitive assignment cannot be given without addition theoretical modeling. Optical feature characteristics of the exciton bound to these kinds of isoelectronic traps are reported: (i) the exciton fine structure with dipole-forbidden and dipole-allowed states and (ii) the train of phonon replicas that is typical of isoelectronic traps. The observation of the fine structure of the trapped excitons is made possible because of the thermodynamic equilibrium between the two populations of excitons (dipole-allowed and dipole-forbidden states) in the conditions of our measurement. It gives us a direct measurement of the short-range exchange interaction (\ensuremath{\sim}0.7 meV). The TRPL experiments allow us to characterize the exciton recombination dynamics for the different isoelectronic traps and notably the transfer mechanisms of excitons among these various traps.