Thermal Creation of Defects in GaTe

Photoluminescence spectra of as-grown and annealed GaTe single crystals in the 0.7–1.8 eV range have been analyzed at different temperatures. Annealing up to 200 °C produces an increase in the recombination intensity of an excitonic characteristic. The annealing at 400 °C generates an intense optically active recombination in the infrared region (0.76 eV). The thermal generation of defects is possible, owing to the low melting temperature of GaTe (800 °C).