LPE growth of InP layers from rare-earth treated melts for radiation detector structures

Rare-earth (RE) elements present in the growth from the liquid phase have purifying effect on III–V semiconductors due to REs high affinity towards chemical species of shallow impurities. We demonstrate this purifying effect on the preparation of InP layers by liquid phase epitaxy with Pr admixture to the growth melt. We employ low temperature photoluminescence, capacitance–voltage and Hall effect measurements to show that optimized concentration of Pr admixture results in the growth of high purity layers of both conductivity types. We discuss the application of p-type InP layers in radiation detectors.