Thermal Dissociation of Excitons Bounds to Neutral Acceptors in High-Purity GaAs

Abstract
The dissociation of excitons bound to neutral acceptors in GaAs is investigated by measurements of the temperature dependence of the integrated emission. Two dissociation processes are observed for all acceptors. Dissociation of holes reduces the emission starting at about 6 K, while from about 10 K upwards a dissociation of both holes and electrons dominates. The binding energies of the holes and of the electrons bound to the neutral acceptors are evaluated. The spectral positions of ionized acceptor-exciton recombination lines are predicted and verified. A formula is derived which describes the measurements quantitatively.