Effect of electron and proton irradiation on recombination centers in GaAsN grown by chemical beam epitaxy

• Electron irradiation increases the density of recombination centers in GaAsN.
• Hydrogenation passivates the recombination centers in GaAsN.
• The split interstitial (N–As)As is the main recombination center in GaAsN.

Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) was deployed to study the evolution, upon electron irradiation and hydrogenation of GaAsN grown by chemical beam epitaxy, of the main nitrogen-related nonradiative recombination center (E1), localized at 0.33 eV below the bottom edge of the conduction band of the alloy. On one hand, the electron irradiation was found to enhance the density of E1 depending on the fluence dose. On the other hand, the hydrogenation was found to passivate completely E1. Furthermore, two new lattice defects were only observed in hydrogenated GaAsN films and were suggested to be in relationship with the origin of E1. The first defect was an electron trap at average thermal activation energy of 0.41 eV below the CBM of GaAsN and was identified to be the EL5-type native defect in GaAs, originating from interstitial arsenic (Asi). The second energy level was a hole trap, newly observed at average thermal activation energy of 0.11 eV above the valence band maximum of the alloy and its origin was tentatively suggested to be in relationship with the monohydrogen–nitrogen (N–H) complex. As the possible origin of E1 was tentatively associated with the split interstitial formed from one N atom and one As atom in single V-site [(N–As)As], we strongly suggested that the new hole trap took place after the dissociation of E1 and the formation of N–H complex.