Activation energy of nonradiative processes in degraded II–VI laser diodes

A spatially resolved cathodoluminescence study of 〈100〉 dark line defects (DLDs) of degraded II–VI laser diodes based on a ZnCdSe/ZnMgSSe separate confinement heterostructure has been carried out at temperatures between room temperature and 8 K. Cathodoluminescence line scans were used to measure the change of contrasts between the DLDs and the adjacent material. The contrast decreased with decreasing temperature, which suggests that the nonradiative recombination processes associated with DLDs are thermally activated. Activation energies were found to be about 16 and 6 meV for temperatures above and below 200 K, respectively, which may reflect a transition between free carriers and bound excitons at this temperature.