Temperature and band gap dependence of GaAsBi p-i-n diode current–voltage behaviour

The dark current characteristics of two series of bulk GaAsBi p-i-n diodes are analysed as functions of temperature and band gap. Each temperature dependent measurement indicates that recombination current dominates in these devices. The band gap dependence of the dark currents is also consistent with recombination dominated current for the devices grown at a common growth temperature, indicating that the presence of Bi does not directly adversely affect the dark currents. However, the devices grown at different growth temperatures exhibit a faster increase in dark current with decreasing device band gap, suggesting that a reduced growth temperature causes a reduction in minority carrier lifetime.