Spatial distribution of charge carrier temperature and lifetime in semi-insulating InP:Fe, observed via photoluminescence spectroscopy

The authors determine the minority carrier lifetime (/spl tau/) in semi-insulating InP in an indirect way by analyzing the high energy tail of the photoluminescence spectrum and extracting a charge carrier temperature T/sub e/ from this data. T/sub e/ turns out to be directly related to /spl tau/, being small for large /spl tau/ and vice versa. It is shown that a) variations of the electron temperature can be observed in typical sample of LEC-grown InP:Fe, b) these variations can be analyzed in terms of charge carrier lifetimes, c) these temperature (and lifetime) variations can be correlated with the PL-intensity distribution and the Fe-distribution in the material.<>