Determination of band gap narrowing and hole density for heavily C-doped GaAs by photoluminescence spectroscopy

The energy band gap narrowing effect in heavily C-doped GaAs was investigated using photoluminescence spectroscopy. The band gap was determined over the hole density range 1017–4×1020 cm−3 at 10 and 300 K. The band gap data at low temperatures confirm the available theoretical calculations up to 1020 cm−3. An unexpected temperature dependence of the observed band gap at high doping levels is discussed on the basis of carrier-phonon interactions. We present an analysis of the band gap narrowing effect that can be used for nondestructive measurement of hole densities in the range 1017–4×1020 cm−3.