Contribution of the carbon-originated hole trap to slow decays of photoluminescence and photoconductivity in homoepitaxial n-type GaN layers

Abstract

N-type GaN epitaxial layers grown via metal organic vapor-phase epitaxy typically exhibit a yellow luminescence (YL) band owing to carbon-related deep levels in the photoluminescence spectra. The decay of YL after pulse excitation involves a long time constant (∼0.2 ms at room temperature), whereas microwave photoconductivity decay (μ-PCD) curves show the corresponding component of the time constant. To clarify the origin of the long decay time, the temperature-dependent time constants of YL decay and μ-PCD curves are analyzed using a numerical model based on rate equations for trapping and emission through a deep level. The characteristics of the decays are well reproduced by a recombination model using a hole trap H1 at an energy of EV + 0.88 eV because of the acceptor-like state of carbon on a nitrogen site (CN) whose electron capture cross section (σn) is estimated to be 3 × 10−21 cm2. The slow decay in μ-PCD signals indicates that the electrons before being captured to H1 traps are free electrons in the conduction band. These findings indicate that the slow recombination process through CN results in tail currents in the turn-off switching periods of devices.