Transition-Metal Impurity Luminescence in GaAs and its Application to Material Characterization

Abstract

AbstractA number of sharp characteristic luminescence lines has been observed for GaAs doped with 3d transition-metal impurities in the near-infrared region, the origin being attributed to the zero-phonon intracenter transitions between the energy levels of the metal ions split by the crystal field of the GaAs lattice. It is also known that these luminescence lines are very sensitive to the surrounding field of the transition-metal impurities. The luminescence of Cr-doped GaAs has been most extensively studied, the spectrum revealing a very sharp luminescence line at 0.839 eV. In this paper we review the results on the successful applications of this Cr-related luminescence line to characterization of in-depth profiles of arsenic vacancy in thermally annealed GaAs, local strain field in In-doped GaAs and interface stress at heterostructures grown on Cr-doped GaAs substrate.