Photoluminescence and capacitance transients in highly Mg-doped GaN

Abstract.

Behaviors of the photoluminescence blue-band and near-bandgap peak and the relevant thermal ionization energies of the shallow and deep Mg-related acceptors have been studied, respectively. The 2.989 eV blue-band is attributed to the deep donor–acceptor-pair transitions involving a deep Mg-related acceptor at E_v+0.427 eV. The blueshift with increasing excitation power is explained by variation in the contribution of close and distant donor–acceptor-pairs to the luminescence. The redshift with increasing temperature results from thermal release of carriers from close donor–acceptor-pairs. The 3.26 eV near-bandgap peak is attributed to the shallow donor–acceptor-pair transitions involving a shallow Mg-related acceptor at E_v+0.223 eV. The relevant thermal ionization energies of the shallow and deep Mg-related acceptors, being about E_v+0.16 and E_v+0.50 eV, are determined from deep-level transient Fourier spectroscopy measurements.