Deep electron traps in organometallic vapor phase grown Al x Ga1− x As

• Published in: Journal of applied physics 1980-10, Vol.51 (10), p.5434-5437
• Main Authors: Wagner, Elmar E., Mars, Dan E., Hom, Gil, Stringfellow, G. B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0021-8979; 1089-7550
• DOI: 10.1063/1.327498

Deep electron traps have been studied by means of deep level transient spectroscopy in n-type nominally undoped and intentionally Te-doped AlxGa1−xAs epitaxial layers which were grown by vapor phase epitaxy from organometallic compounds (OMVPE). Three main deep electron levels are present in undoped material: a trap with an activation energy of 0.8 eV, which is also found in GaAs grown by conventional VPE, and two levels specific to OMVPE with activation energies of 0.32 and 0.38 eV, respectively. The concentration of the 0.8 eV level is found to be independent of the aluminum content x, supporting the assumption that it is not related to substitutional oxygen. The other levels, however, exhibit a very strong dependence of concentration on the composition, varying by four orders of magnitude in the range of 0⩽x⩽0.35. In Te-doped samples, a level with an activation energy of 0.23 eV has been identified, which is thought to be related to an IR emission found in photoluminescence in OMVPE as well as in liquid phase epitaxial material.