Compensation effects in GaN:Mg probed by Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence measurements

Compensation effects in metal organic chemical vapour deposition grown GaN doped with magnesium are investigated with Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence measurements. Examining the strain sensitive E-2(high) mode, an increasing compressive strain is revealed for samples with Mg-concentrations lower than 7 x 10(18) cm(-3). For higher Mg-concentrations, this strain is monotonically reduced. This relaxation is accompanied by a sudden decrease in crystal quality. Luminescence measurements reveal a well defined near band edge luminescence with free, donor bound, and acceptor bound excitons as well as a characteristic donor acceptor pair (DAP) luminescence. Following recent results, three acceptor bound excitons and donor acceptor pairs are identified. Along with the change of the strain, a strong modification in the luminescence of the dominating acceptor bound exciton and DAP luminescence is observed. The results from Raman spectroscopy and luminescence measurements are interpreted as fingerprints of compensation effects in GaN:Mg leading to the conclusion that compensation due to defect incorporation triggered by Mg-doping already affects the crystal properties at doping levels of around 7 x 10(18)cm(-3). Thereby, the generation of nitrogen vacancies is introduced as the driving force for the change of the strain state and the near band edge luminescence. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4794094]