Carbon impurities and the yellow luminescence in GaN

Using hybrid functional calculations we investigate the effects of carbon on the electrical and optical properties of GaN. In contrast to the currently accepted view that C substituting for N (CN) is a shallow acceptor, we find that CN has an ionization energy of 0.90 eV. Our calculated absorption and emission lines also indicate that CN is a likely source for the yellow luminescence that is frequently observed in GaN, solving the longstanding puzzle of the nature of the C-related defect involved in yellow emission. Our results suggest that previous experimental data, analyzed under the assumption that CN acts as a shallow acceptor, should be re-examined.