Deep levels in GaInAs grown by molecular beam epitaxy and their concentration reduction with annealing treatment

X-ray diffraction (XRD), current-voltage (IV), capacitance-voltage (CV), deep-level transient Fourier spectroscopy (DLTFS) and isothermal transient spectroscopy (ITS) techniques are used to investigate the thermal annealing behaviour of three deep levels in Ga0.986In0.014As heavily doped with Si (6.8 x 1017 cm-3) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The thermal annealing was performed at 625 deg. C, 650 deg. C, 675 deg. C, 700 deg. C and 750 deg. C for 5 min. XRD study shows good structural quality of the samples and yields an In composition of 1.4%. Two main electron traps are detected by DLTFS and ITS around 280 K, with activation energies of 0.58 eV and 0.57 eV, capture cross sections of 9 x 10-15 cm2 and 8.6 x 10-14 cm2 and densities of 2.8 x 1016 cm-3 and 9.6 x 1015 cm-3, respectively. They appear overlapped and as a single peak, which divides into two smaller peaks after annealing at 625 deg. C for 5 min. Annealing at higher temperatures further reduces the trap concentrations. A secondary electron trap is found at 150 K with an activation energy of 0.274 eV, a capture cross section of 8.64 x 10-15 cm2 and a density of 1.38 x 1015 cm-3. The concentration of this trap level is also decreased by thermal annealing