Undoped and doped wurtzite GaAs probed by polarization- and time-resolved cathodoluminescence

Abstract

Nanowires (NWs) offer unique possibilities to control semiconductor heterostructures and polytypes at the nanometer scale. The crystal structure of GaAs can be switched from bulk cubic zinc blende (ZB) to the hexagonal wurtzite (WZ) phase, but the properties and doping of WZ GaAs are still poorly known. Here, we grow high-quality GaAs NWs containing large segments of pure ZB and WZ phases using self-catalyzed, vapor–liquid–solid molecular beam epitaxy. Undoped, Be-doped and Si-doped WZ GaAs are investigated by high-resolution cathodoluminescence (CL) at low temperature (10 K). The luminescence originating from the WZ region is unambiguously distinguished by its strong anisotropy, evidenced by polarimetry. In undoped GaAs, the WZ CL peak is found ∼1 meV higher than the free exciton energy in ZB. The recombination dynamics is probed by time-resolved CL and features a lifetime of 0.6 ns for exciton recombination and 1.65 ns for the free-electron-to-acceptor transition. From Be-doped NWs, we infer an ionization energy of ∼30 meV for the Be acceptor in GaAs WZ. The CL spectra broaden and redshift with increasing Be concentration due to the bandgap narrowing, following a trend similar to GaAs ZB. Si-doped WZ GaAs exhibits a low-energy CL peak (1.47 eV) attributed to the donor–acceptor pair recombination involving Si impurities. The degree of polarization of WZ luminescence decreases with increasing doping levels for both p-type and n-type. These results shed light on the properties and doping of WZ GaAs and show that time-resolved CL and CL polarimetry constitutes a powerful tool to characterize the crystal phase, local defect, transport and recombination mechanism at the nanoscale.