Exciton absorption,photoluminescence and band structure of N-Free and N-DOPED In1−xGaxP

Optical absorption data on In_1?xGa_xP are reported showing the first observation of the exciton absorption peak in a III-V ternary alloy. This allows the most accurate determination to date of both the composition dependence of the Γ band gap and the position of the Γ ? X crossover (x_c = 0.72, 77°K; x_c = 0.73, 300°K). Absorptio and photoluminescence spectra are compared for both direct and indirect In_1?xGa_xP. In addition, absorption, photoluminescence, and luminescence lifetimes of In_1?xGa_xP:N are examined. These data suggest that the A-line is perturbed by alloy disorder and forms a broad luminescence band for x ? 0.94. The observed Stokes shift for the N-trap in the alloy is characteristic of an impurity strongly coupled to the lattice. The temperature dependence of the N luminescence band is found to be well described by the conventional configuration-coordinate model for phonon-coupled impurity luminescence. Implications of these results for light emitting devices are mentioned.