Doping characteristics of Si-doped n-GaN epilayers grown by low-pressure metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition

We studied doping behaviors through analysis of the electronic properties of a series of undoped and Si-doped GaN epilayers grown on (0001) sapphire substrates by the low-pressure metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition (LP-MOCVD) technique. The doping efficiency was in the range of 0.4 - 0.8, and an empirical relation expressed as η = 0.45 log[Si] - 8.1 was obtained. The temperature dependence of carrier concentration showed that the donor activation energy monotonically decreased from 17.6 meV to almost zero as the doping level increased. We suggest that the reduction in the activation energy is related not to autodoped defect centers but to doped Si donors and that the behavior originates from the formation of an impurity band. On the basis of an abrupt change in the compensation ratio from 0.9 to 0.5 by Si-doping, an exceptional difference in the Hall mobility between the undoped and the Si-doped films is explained by a mixed conduction mechanism of electrons and holes.