Time resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) of untreated and heat-treated n
-type GaP:S samples has been investigated and compared with data from
cathodoluminescence in a scanning electron microscope (CL-SEM). Specia
l attention is given to broad emission bands in the region of 1.8 to 1
.6 eV. TRPL shows that dependent on temperature different optical cent
ers are responsible for the luminescence. While the low temperature em
ission presents a donor-acceptor (D-A) pair behavior above 70 K an exc
itonic emission dominates with an exponential decay (of the order of s
econds at 70 K) in the whole temperature region where it is measured.
The temperature behavior of the decay and intensity of these bands lea
ds to the understanding of the processes involved in the luminescence.
From the data the distribution of the defects and the levels involved
in the emission are discussed. The influence of the annealing in the
rearrangement of the defects is analyzed.