The optical properties of GaAs1−xNx alloys, grown by molecular beam epitaxy using GaAs (001) as the substrate, were studied. These included photoluminescence, cathodoluminescence, photo-current and photo-memory effects. The low-temperature (77K) PL characteristics were measured on samples with 0–0.105%N content. The wide emission band indicated the defective nature of the materials. The widening of the band for materials with increasing N concentration also suggested that the concentration of defect states in these materials dramatically increased with increasing N content. The PL and cathodoluminescence spectra for GaAs1−xNx layer 1854 did not showed identical characteristics. Some layers showed a very sharp fall in photocurrent at low temperatures, indicating a very sharp photo-quenching and an interaction between antisite, interstitial and vacancy defects. The photo-memory effect, which caused photo-quenching and the transition from the EL2 to the EL2* metastable state, was strongly influenced by the optical exposure and thermal history of the sample.

Optical Properties of GaAs1−xNx Alloys Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy. J.Alam, A.E.Botchkarev, J.A.Griffin, N.B.Smirnov, A.V.Govorkov, A.Y.Polyakov, J.M.Zavada, A.Christou, S.N.Mohammad: Philosophical Magazine, 2006, 86[23], 3477-86