Identification of a nickel double-acceptor state in indium phosphide

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Abstract
We present the first successful attempt to identify the Ni impurity level in indium phosphide. Ni‐doped n‐type InP crystals were investigated using deep level transient spectroscopy and optical absorption. A new electron trap with energy of 0.27±0.02 eV below the InP conduction band and an electron capture cross section of 10−13 cm2 was found. In the absorption spectrum a new zero‐phonon line with energy of 0.57 eV was observed. We interpret these results as an observation of a Ni2+/Ni+ double acceptor level and an optical intracenter transition 2T2→2E within the Ni+(3d9) configuration. A vacuum‐referred binding energy of the nickel double acceptor state in InP determined in our experiment is in good agreement with the vacuum‐referred binding energies of the nickel impurity in GaAs and GaP.