The silicon doping of n-type GaN using disilane has been demonstrated
for films grown on sapphire substrates by low pressure organometallic
vapor phase epitaxy. The binding energy of an exciton bound to a neutr
al Si donor has been determined from low temperature (6K) photolumines
cence spectra to be 8.6 meV. Nearly complete activation of the Si impu
rity atom in the GaN lattice has been observed.