Recombination processes in Mg doped wurtzite InN films with p- and n-type conductivity

Obtaining high quality, wurtzite InN films with p-type conductivity is a challenge, and there is limited information about the photoluminescence (PL) characteristics of such films. In this study, we present a comprehensive PL study and discuss in detail the recombination processes in Mg-doped InN films with varying Mg concentrations. We find that at low Mg-doping of 1×1018 cm-3, which yields p-type conductivity, the PL in InN is spatially inhomogeneous. The latter is suggested to be associated with the presence of n-type pockets, displaying photoluminescence at 0.73 eV involving electrons at the Fermi edge above the conduction band edge. Increasing the Mg concentration to 2.9×1019 cm-3 in p-type InN yields strong and spatially uniform photoluminescence at 0.62 eV and 0.68 eV visible all the way to room temperature, indicating homogeneous p-type conductivity. An acceptor binding energy of 64 meV is determined for the Mg acceptor. Further increase of the Mg concentration to 1.8×1020 cm-3 leads to switching conductivity back to n-type. The PL spectra in this highly doped sample reveal only the emission related to the Mg acceptor (at 0.61 eV). In the low-energy tail of the emission, the multiple peaks observed at 0.54 – 0.58 eV are suggested to originate from recombination of carriers localized at stacking faults.