The luminescence properties of the wide bandgap nitrides doped with rare earth ions and gallium nitride doped with conventional isoelectronic impurities

In this work we study the luminescence properties of GaN, AIN and AlGaN/GaN multiquantum well structure doped with rare earth (RE) ions as well as GaN doped with conventional dopants.; The doping method was done through an ion implantation process at room temperature with different ion's doses and implantation energies. The focus was on Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er and Tm ions implanted in GaN epilayers, Eu and Tb ions implanted in crystalline AlN epilayers, Er in situ doped amorphous AlN thin films and AlGaN/GaN multiquantum well structure implanted with Eu ions.; It was shown that RE ions embedded in III-nitrides semiconductors followed by post-implantation isochronal thermal annealing at 1100°C in different ambient gases at atmospheric pressure could be activated as efficient luminescence centers. The sharp characteristic emission lines corresponding to RE 3+ intra-4 fn-shell transitions are resolved in spectral range from 350 nm to 1540 nm and observed over the temperature range from 7 K to 330 K. Resulting luminescence was tested by cathodoluminescence (CL), photoluminescence (PL) and luminescence decay kinetics measurements.; The fluorescence decay curves of selected transition lines for Pr, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy, and Er ions implanted in III-nitrides hosts were studied as a function of temperature and analyzed theoretically by applying the Inokuti-Hirayama model. On the basis of recorded spectra, we tabulated emission lines for all investigated RE ions in the GaN epilayers and assigned them to the most probable f-f transitions.; In theoretical analyses of experimental results we assume that cation site (Ga, Al) in III-nitride lattice host is the most probable location of implanted RE ions in GaN and AlN and therefore RE ion site symmetry is C_3v. For Pr-doped GaN, we have calculated the crystal-field splitting of the multiplet energy levels of Pr3+ (4 f2) using lattice sum models. Furthermore, the model of energy transfers between the host lattice and the RE 4 f n-shell system is presented and discussed in the framework of RE isoelectronic structured trap theory.; Moreover, the luminescence properties P, As, and Bi impurities implanted in GaN were investigated by PL and PL excitation spectroscopy. Implanted P, As, and Bi ions in GaN epilayers most probably substitute for N ions and create isoelectronic hole traps in GaN host. On the basis of experimental results and theoretical analysis we have estimated binding energies of exciton bind to P, As, and Bi isoelectronic hole traps.; The results indicate that RE doped III-nitrides semiconductors and P, As, and Bi doped GaN epilayer are suitable for visible opt oelectronic devices.