Shallow acceptor binding energy and lifetime of donor-acceptor pairs in gallium arsenide

The wavelength dependence of photoluminescence decay was measured for a donor-acceptor pair in gallium arsenide. Using the observed saturation % of the lifetime for distant pairs, we separated out the nonradiative contribution to the decay time constant. Fitting the experimental radiative recombination rate to the theory offers a precise method of determining the acceptor binding energy to within ±0.1 meV, as was first proposed by Dingle. The acceptor binding energies thus determined of 26.2 meV for carbon and 34.3 meV for silicon are very close to those of 26.4±0.1 and 34.5±0.1 meV evaluated by conduction-band electron–to-neutral-acceptor recombination spectra for the same samples.