Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
Photoluminescence (PL) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies were performed on a series of ZnSe samples grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The PL has been studied as a function of excitation wavelength, power, temperature, and time. The PL data indicates that the broad emission from a heavily nitrogen-doped ZnSe film is composed of three distinct recombination processes. The EPR spectra taken at 8 K and 9.45 GHz show an isotropic signal at g = 2.0027(3) which we attribute to singly ionized selenium vacancies (Vse+). The PL and EPR data help to clarify the role of defects in the compensation of heavily nitrogen-doped ZnSe thin films.