Effect of surfactant Sb on carrier lifetime in GaInP epilayers

Samples of Ga0.52In0.48P grown on (001) GaAs with small amounts of surfactant Sb were investigated using time-resolved photoluminescence. All samples show a luminescence that may be fit to a two-stage exponential decay with a fast and a slow lifetime. For growth without Sb (Sb/III(v)(0), the sample shows a strong CuPtB ordering and a fast component lifetime of 7 ns. As the Sb concentration is increased, the degree of order is reduced, with a consequent increase in band gap energy. In the highest band gap material, produced at Sb/III(v)0.016, the fast lifetime is 2.9 ns, an order of magnitude larger than published values for GaInP disordered by misorienting the substrate. Increasing the Sb further causes the band gap energy to decrease due to the onset of composition modulation. At Sb/III(v)0.064, the fast component lifetime decreases to 0.79 ns. Samples grown with Sb/III(v)0.016 show a lifetime that depends on energy and is fit well by a model of localized excitons.