Influence of photoexcitation depth on luminescence spectra of bulk GaAs single crystals: application to defect structure characterization

TL;DR

This study explores how photoexcitation depth affects the luminescence spectra of bulk GaAs crystals, revealing that bulk excitation provides more detailed information on defect structures compared to near-surface excitation.

Contribution

It demonstrates that bulk photoexcitation spectra are more informative for defect characterization in GaAs than surface excitation methods.

Findings

Bulk excitation spectra vary with defect composition.

Near-surface excitation spectra are similar across samples.

Bulk excitation spectra reveal deep-level defect information.

Abstract

The results of investigation of bulk GaAs photoluminescence are presented taken from near-surface layers of different thicknesses using for excitation the light with the wavelengths which are close but some greater than the excitonic absorption resonances (so-called "bulk" photoexcitation). Only the excitonic and band-edge luminescence is seen under the interband excitation, while under the "bulk" excitation, the spectra are much more informative. The interband excited spectra of all the samples investigated in the present work are practically identical, whereas the bulk excited PL spectra are different for different samples and excitation depths and provide the information on the deep-level point defect composition of the bulk materials.