LOW-TEMPERATURE LUMINESCENT PROPERTIES OF DEGENERATE P-TYPE GAAS GROWN BY LOW-PRESSURE METALORGANIC CHEMICAL-VAPOR-DEPOSITION

Abstract

Low-temperature (20 K) luminescent properties of heavily carbon- and zinc-doped GaAs grown by low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition were investigated. The luminescence linewidth became broader at low temperatures when p > 4 X 10(19) cm-3 due to the appearance of a shoulder peak. The main peak shifted to low energy when the dopant concentration was increased; however, the shoulder peak was at around 1.485 eV and was nearly independent of the dopant concentration. The peak of the band-to-acceptor transition occurred at low temperature and dominated the emission spectra of degenerate GaAs. The peak energy of Zn-doped samples was lower than that of C-doped samples because of the existence of defects. The excitation power intensity was varied to investigate the behavior of the shoulder peak for both types of dopants. The shoulder peak was a part of the main peak because of the recombination between the conduction band and the bottom of the impurity band.