The luminescence properties of III-V nitride films were investigated by means of depth-resolved cathodoluminescence spectroscopy. An emission at 2.9eV was found in low-temperature and room-temperature cathodoluminescence studies of undoped GaN and GaN/AlGaN multi quantum-well films. A greater penetration depth was attributed to a higher dislocation density at the film/substrate interface. A configuration-coordinate model was proposed, on the basis of the local strains near to Mg impurities, in order to explain the depth-resolved cathodoluminescence data for Mg-doped films. This model demonstrated that local strains could play a crucial role in controlling the radiative efficiency, line-width and peak position of the luminescence.

Depth-Resolved Cathodoluminescence of III-V Nitride Films Grown by Plasma-Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy. J.M.Myoung, K.H.Shim, S.Kim: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics - 1, 2001, 40[2A], 476-9