Competition of N-passivation and Te-passivation in hydrogenation of Te-doped (Ga,In)(N,As)

(Ga,In)(N,As) lattice matched to GaAs with a band gap of 1 eV is employed as active material in high-efficiency III–V solar cells. Te-doped Ga0.934In0.066N0.023As0.977 layers were grown by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy on (1 0 0) GaAs. The samples were highly doped n-type with carrier concentrations ranging from about 1017–1019 cm−3. Pieces of the samples were hydrogenated with H-doses of 1018 ion/cm2. The optical and electrical properties of the samples before and after hydrogenation were studied by low-temperature photoluminescence and magnetotransport. In undoped samples hydrogen is known to form N–H complexes which strongly reduce the local perturbation of the lattice due to nitrogen and thus reverse the N-induced global changes of the band structure. Combined analysis of photoluminescence and transport measurements on Te-doped samples, however, indicates a competition between N–H formation and passivation of the Te donor favoring the latter. Hardly any band structure changes due to hydrogenation are observed in these Te-doped samples, instead a strong reduction of the free-carrier concentration is observed after hydrogenation.