Relationship of carbon concentration and slow decays of photoluminescence in homoepitaxial n-type GaN layers

Abstract

In this study, we analyzed the slow decay in time-resolved photoluminescence (TR-PL) of n-type GaN homoepitaxial layers with carbon concentrations of (0.26–4.0) × 1016 cm−3. The relative signal intensities of the slow decays to the TR-PL signals at t = 0 s increased almost linearly with increased carbon concentration, suggesting that the carrier recombination process is subjected to the deep level formed by the carbon atoms in GaN. Slow decay curves were calculated based on the rate equations for trapping and emission at the deep level. The experimental carbon concentration dependence of the time constants and the relative signal intensities was reproduced by calculation. TR-PL is a technique used to estimate carbon concentrations in GaN homoepitaxial layers.