Temperature evolution of excitonic luminescence in nitrogen doped zinc selenide

Abstract

The temperature evolution of the luminescence due to excitons was studied in nitrogen doped zinc selenide using time-resolved and time-integrated photoluminescence (PL) techniques. The luminescence decay time of the acceptor bound exciton was found to be constant at temperatures below 14 K with a value of ∼430 ps and then decreased with temperature, with an activation energy of 13 meV. By comparison with the PL spectrum, the decrease was identified as due to the thermalization of the bound exciton into a free exciton and a neutral acceptor. The temperature evolution of the PL data shows that the donor bound exciton luminescence increases with reference to the deeper acceptor bound exciton luminescence, and this is explained using a kinetic model. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.