Vacancy compensation and related donor-acceptor pair recombination in bulk AlN

Journal Article · Mon Oct 14 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4824731· OSTI ID:1211325

Gaddy, BE; Bryan, Z; Bryan, I; Kirste, R; Xie, JQ; Dalmau, R; Moody, B; Kumagai, Y; Nagashima, T; Kubota, Y; Kinoshita, T; Koukitu, A; Sitar, Z; Collazo, R; Irving, DL

A prominent 2.8 eV emission peak is identified in bulk AlN substrates grown by physical vapor transport. This peak is shown to be related to the carbon concentration in the samples. Density functional theory calculations predict that this emission is caused by a donor-acceptor pair (DAP) recombination between substitutional carbon on the nitrogen site and a nitrogen vacancy. Photoluminescence and photoluminescence-excitation spectroscopy are used to confirm the model and indicate the DAP character of the emission. The interaction between defects provides a pathway to creating ultraviolet-transparent AlN substrates for optoelectronics applications. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AR0000299
• OSTI ID: 1211325
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 16; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English