Temperature dependence of defect-related photoluminescence in III-V and II-VI semiconductors

摘要

Mechanisms of thermal quenching of photoluminescence (PL) related to defects insemiconductors are analyzed. We conclude that the Schön-Klasens (multi-center) mechanism of the thermal quenching of PL is much more common for defects in III–V and II–VI semiconductorsas compared to the Seitz-Mott (one-center) mechanism. The temperature dependencies of PLare simulated with a phenomenological model. In its simplest version, three types of defects are included: a shallow donor, an acceptor responsible for the PL, and a nonradiative center that has the highest recombination efficiency. The case of abrupt and tunable thermal quenching ofPL is considered in more detail. This phenomenon is predicted to occur in high-resistivitysemiconductors. It is caused by a sudden redirection of the recombination flow from a radiative acceptor to a nonradiative defect.