Investigation of electric field effect on defects in GaAsN by admittance spectroscopy

Abstract

• Electric-field dependent properties of defects in GaAsN. • Temperature dependent properties of defects in GaAsN. • Extraction of defect properties without the Arrhenius plot. We use the Arrhenius transformation and matching (ATM) method to extract activation energy and attempt-to-escape frequency of the nitrogen-related defect (E1) in GaAsN from admittance spectroscopy measurements taken at various temperature and electric field. The ATM method is equivalent to the conventional Arrhenius plot and line-fitting (APL) method for Arrhenius processes with temperature-independent E a and ν 0 (e.g., E1 in a low electric field and at high temperatures) and advantageous for non–Arrhenius processes with temperature-dependent E a and ν 0 , (e.g., E1 in a high electric field and at low temperatures), where the APL method is not reliable. The ATM method enables a detailed account on how E a evolves with the temperature and the electric field in a continuously varying experimental space, which is not possible with the APL method. The evolution of carrier emission behaviors from the E1 defect and a neighboring E2 defect provides experimental evidence of field-induced metastability possibly due to the interaction of two defects with close atomic origins or spatial locations.