Effect of rapid thermal annealing observed by photoluminescence measurement in GaAs1 − xNx layers

A set of GaAs1 − xNx samples with small nitrogen content were investigated by photoluminescence (PL) measurements as function of irradiance in order to investigate the effect of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on photoluminescence (PL) properties. The analysis of PL spectra as function of irradiance and nitrogen content shows that the PL spectra associated to the GaAs1 − xNx layers are the result of the nitrogen localized state recombination. The results are examined as a consequence of a rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The variation of the emission band peak energy (Ep), at 10 K as a function of irradiance, is fitted by a theoretical model taking into account two types of nitrogen localized states. The variation of the PL intensity versus irradiance in the range from 1.59 to 159 W/cm2 for different GaAs1 − xNx samples confirm that the PL spectra result from the nitrogen localized state recombination.