Effect of In doping in GaSb crystals studied by cathodoluminescence

Abstract

The luminescence properties of In doped GaSb single crystals have been studied by the cathodoluminescence (CL) technique in the scanning electron microscope. It has been found that indium induces a certain reduction on the native acceptor concentration in contrast to what occurs with other isoelectronic dopants (e.g. aluminium). Large In concentrations lead to the formation of the ternary compound In_xGa_(1-x)Sb as revealed by CL spectra and x-ray measurements. In particular, a luminescence band and x-ray diffraction peaks observed in highly doped samples are attributed to the presence of In_xGa_(1-x)Sb.