Electron beam induced current and cathodoluminescence study of the recombination activity of stacking faults and hillocks in hydride vapour phase epitaxy InP

Cathodoluminescence and electron beam induced current modes in the scanning electron microscope have been employed to study the recombination behavior of stacking faults and surrounding hillocks in undoped InP homoepitaxies grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy. Stacking faults exhibited nonradiative recombination activity. The largest hillocks with {111} type outer surfaces showed enhanced radiative recombination on two opposite sides and no recombination on the other two, most probably because of the different incorporation of the unintentional dopant. The greater influence that the largest hillocks have, compared with the crystallographic defects, in limiting the electrical but not the optoelectronic performances of the homoepitaxies, is pointed out.