Nonstoichiometric deep levels in Mg-doped GaP epitaxial layers: Effects of pre-annealing of substrates

The effects of substrate pre-annealing on deep level density in Mg-doped GaP liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE) layers were investigated by photocapacitance measurement. With annealing under optimum phosphorus-vapor pressure, concentration of deep donor at E_C — 1.9–2.1 eV increased in undoped GaP substrate. Deep level densities in Mg-doped layers were also affected by pre-annealing of the substrates. Densities of dominant deep levels at E_V + 0.85 eV and E_V + 1.5 eV were an order of magnitude reduced and, in contrast, the level at E_C − 2.1 eV in Mg-doped layer increased with long pre-annealing. This level at E_C − 2.1 eV is supposed to be involved with P-rich-type nonstoichiometric defects, such as phosphorus interstitial atoms diffused from the surface of the substrate.