The compensation of Mg-doped GaN is systematically studied by low-temperature photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy using a series of samples with different Mg concentrations. Strongly doped samples are found to be highly compensated in electrical measurements. The compensation mechanism is directly related to the incorporation of Mg. Three different deep donor levels are found at 240±30, 350±30, and 850±30 meV from the conduction band, each giving rise to deep unstructured donor-acceptor pair emission.

No abstract

Free-and bound-exciton luminescences of GaN epitaxial layers grown by a sublimation technique on 6H-SiC substrates were investigated using time-integrated and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements at low temperatures. Lifetimes were determined for the donor-bound exciton at 3.4722 eV and for two acceptor-bound excitons with energies of 3.4672 eV and 3.459 eV. On the basis of our results we obtain an upper limit of the free-exciton oscillator strength of 0.0046 for GaN. Luminescences between 3.29 eV and 3.37 eV are identified as due to excitons deeply bound to centers located near the substrate-epilayer interface. Free excitons are captured by these centers within 20 ps.

We report on the mechanisms of optical gain in cubic GaN. Intensity-dependent gain spectra allow a distinction of the processes involved in providing optical amplification. For moderate excitation levels, the biexciton decay is responsible for a gain structure at 3.265 eV. With increasing excitation densities, gain is observed on the high energy side of the cubic band gap due to band filling processes. For the highest pump intensities, the electron-hole plasma is the dominant gain process. Gain values up to 210 cm−1 were obtained, indicating the high potential of cubic GaN for device applications. The observed gain mechanisms are similar to those of hexagonal GaN.

No abstract