Suppressing of optical quenching of deep defect-to-band transitions in AlGaN and GaN/AlGaN heterostructures

Abstract

Quenching of photocurrent spectroscopy and thermally stimulated currents has been investigated in undoped AlGaN layers and GaN/AlGaN heterostructures grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy on sapphire substrates. The quenching was induced by an additional illumination as well as by an excitation with light below bandgap energy, respectively. In GaN layers, mainly the thermal defect emission band between 210 and 300 K is involved in the quenching processes and there are strong indications of a reduction of the band by incorporation of aluminum. In AlGaN layers, a decrease of quenching with increasing Al content is observed in accordance to a reduction of the height of the thermal emission between 210 and 300 K in these layers. These results are supported by quenching experiments in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures.