Carrier recombination at single dislocations in GaN measured by cathodoluminescence in a transmission electron microscope

We study radiative and nonradiative recombination at individual dislocations in GaN by cathodoluminescence performed in a transmission electron microscope. The dislocations are produced by indentation of dislocation free single crystals and have a-type Burgers vectors (b=1/3〈1120〉). They are aligned along 〈1120〉 directions in the basal plane. Our direct correlation between structural and optical properties on a microscopic scale yields two main results: (i) 60°-basal plane dislocations show radiative recombination at 2.9 eV; (ii) screw-type basal plane dislocations act as nonradiative recombination centers. We explain the nonradiative recombination by splitting this dislocation into 30° partials that have dangling bonds in the core. The dissociation width of these dislocations is <2 nm.

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