Abstract
A significant contribution to the degradation of GaAs-based lasers and light-emitting diodes arises from the formation of so-called dark line defects. It is shown that these defects are accumulations of non-radiative recombination centres around dislocations. The centres are identified as As vacancies, which are emitted by climbing dislocations, concomitantly with the absorption of Ga interstitials. From scanning deep-level transient spectroscopy observations it is concluded that the so-called DX centres are Ga interstitials. The driving force for dislocation climb and thus for dark-line-defect formation is a supersaturation of Ga interstitials originating from the growth of the GaAs crystals under Ga-rich conditions as a consequence of the high volatility of As. Phenomena in other III–V compound semiconductors related to the formation of dark line defects in GaAs are also discussed.
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Frank, W., Gösele, U. The influence of intrisic defects on the degradation and luminescence of GaAs and other III–V compounds. Appl. Phys. 23, 303–309 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00914916
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00914916