Shifting photoluminescence bands in high-resistivity Li-compensated GaAs

It is shown that Li diffusion of GaAs can give rise to semi-insulating samples with electrical resistivity as high as 10⁷ {Ω} cm in undoped, n-type, and p-type starting materials. The optical properties of the compensated samples are correlated with the depletion of free carriers caused by the Li diffusion. The radiative recombination of the Li-compensated samples is dominated by emissions with excitation-dependent peak positions that shift to lower energies with increasing compensation. The photoluminescence properties are characteristic of fluctuations of the electrostatic potential in strongly doped, compensated crystals.