Phosphorus-related interfacial defect complex at a GaP/GaNP heterojunction

For full exploration of dilute nitrides in device applications, a better understanding and control of defects located at interfaces involving e.g. Ga(In)NP are required. In this work we report on the first identification of a point defect situated at an interface between two semiconductors: GaNP and GaP. The defect is concluded to be a complex involving a P antisite or a P interstitial in its core, partnered with a neighboring impurity/defect aligned along a direction, from detailed angular dependence studies of the optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectra at both X- and Q-band microwave frequencies. The principal g and A values, g┴=2.013, g║=2.002, A┴=130x10-4 cm-1 and A║=330x10-4 cm-1, are obtained from a spin Hamiltonian analysis. The interface nature of the defect is clearly evident from the absence of the ODMR lines originating from two out of four equivalent orientations. Defect formation is shown to be facilitated by severe nitrogen ion bombardment under non-equilibrium growth conditions during solid-source molecular beam epitaxy and the defect is thermally stable upon post-growth thermal annealing.