Photocurrent enhancement by below bandgap excitation in GaPN

Abstract

Abstract This study presents two-wavelength excited photocurrent (TWEPC) measurements in GaP1−x N x grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. TWEPC measurements reveal that photocurrent generation is significantly enhanced when above gap excitation and below gap excitation (BGE) sources are applied simultaneously. With increasing BGE photon energy, a large increase in photocurrent is observed. The external quantum efficiency measurements show that the effect of BGE light is higher with a higher density of tail states present. The extended numerical study by rate equations reproduced the results in a good manner. Furthermore, the simulation results showed that the addition of the BGE light affects the electron occupancy as well as the electron lifetime, which is found to be 0.1 ns in this study.