X-Ray, Photoluminescence and Etching Studies of Indium-Doped LPE GaAs Layers

The effects of In doping on the structural properties of liquid phase epitaxially (LPE) grown GaAs layers are studied. The distribution coefficient of In in the GaAs at 800 ° C was determined to be 0.033 which was consistent with the value calculated from the pseudobinary phase diagram of the ternary system at a dilute In concentration. The full widths at halfmaximum (FWHM) of x-ray double crystal rocking curves show that a GaAs epi-layer of good crystalline quality can be obtained by doping In to a concentration up to 4.3 × 1019 cm−3, beyond which a sharp increase in the FWHM is observed. Etch pit density (EPD) measurement shows that the dislocation density is reduced by doping the epi-layer with In. At the optimal In concentration of 2.4 × 1019 cm−3, the EPD is reduced by a factor of 20 when measured at the surface of a 9 um thick epilayer. Photoluminesce measurements made at 15 K show two sharp emission spectra near the bandedge. The relative intensities of the two emissions, I(l.49eV)/I(l.5eV) are reduced with increasing In content. This suggests that incorporation of Carbon acceptors is suppressed by In doping in the GaAs epilayers. The FWHM as small as 5 meV of the bandedge transition was obtained for the epi-layer doped with In concentration of 2.4 × 1019 cm−3.