Effects of thermal treatment on radiative properties of HVPE grown InP layers

•We studied radiative properties of 21μm thick InP layers grown by HVPE.•Radiative efficiency is comparable to best bulk InP virgin wafers.•Luminescence of HVPE layers-unlike bulk-does not degrade upon heat treatment.•Enables the implementation of free-standing epitaxial InP scintillator structures. Radiative efficiency of highly luminescent bulk InP wafers severely degrades upon heat treatment involved in epitaxial growth of quaternary layers and fabrication of photodiodes on the surface. This unfortunate property impedes the use of bulk InP as scintillator material. On the other hand, it is known that thin epitaxial InP layers, grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) or metal–organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), do not exhibit any degradation. These layers, however, are too thin to be useful in scintillators. The capability of hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) process to grow thick bulk-like layers in reasonable time is well known, but the radiative properties of HVPE InP layers are not known. We have studied radiative properties of 21μm thick InP layers grown by HVPE and found them comparable to those of best luminescent bulk InP virgin wafers. In contrast to the bulk wafers, the radiative efficiency of HVPE layers does not degrade upon heat treatment. This opens up the possibility of implementing free-standing epitaxial InP scintillator structures endowed with surface photodiodes for registration of the scintillation.