Deep centers in AlGaN-based light emitting diode structures

Abstract Deep traps were studied in GaN homojunction and AlGaN/GaN heterojunction light emitting diode (LED) p–i–n structures by means of deep levels transient spectroscopy (DLTS), admittance and electroluminescence (EL) spectra measurements. It is shown that, in homojunction LED structures, the EL spectra comes from recombination involving Mg acceptors in-diffusing into the active i-layer. This Mg in-diffusion is strongly suppressed in heterostructures with the upper p-type layer containing about 5% of Al. As a result the main peak in the EL spectra of heterostructures is shifted toward higher energy compared to homojunctions. Joint doping of the i-layer with Zn and Si allows to shift the main EL peak to longer wavelength. The dominant electron traps observed in the studied LED structures had ionization energies of 0.55 and 0.85 eV. The dominant hole traps had apparent ionization energies of 0.85 and 0.4 eV. The latter traps were shown to be metastable and it is argued that they could be at least in part responsible for the persistent photoconductivity observed in p-GaN.