Bulk and near-surface annealing behavior of the 0.8 eV luminescence in semi-insulating gallium arsenide

An annealing study of the 0.8 eV photoluminescence band in LEC GaAs has been performed, using a combination of 10 min annealing steps over a temperature range of 800–1100° C and one hour furnace annealing steps at 500–700° C. Results show that the defect responsible for the luminescence is stable in bulk material under all annealing conditions that have been investigated. In combination with earlier results, this demonstrates a stability of the defect to temperatures in excess of 900° C and indicates a parallel with the annealing behavior of the 0.67 eV band in semi-insulating GaAs. The observed annealing behavior is very different in the near-surface region, indicating an important role of As out-diffusion.