Undoped layers of GaN grown by MOVPE on sapphire substrates have been characterized by photoluminescence, photocapacitance and photoinduced current transient spectroscopy (PICTS). Photocapacitance reveals in all samples two specific signatures at photon energies of 1 eV and 2.5 eV. The photocapacitance decrease observed at 1 eV seems to be due to an electron capture process from the valence band, whereas the capacitance increase at 2.5 eV is related to an electron emission process. The fact that the capacitance step at 1 eV is only seen after photoionization at energies above 2.5 eV, and the observed correlation between its amplitude and the photoluminescence intensity of the “yellow band”, lead us to conclude that both transitions are linked to the same trap, which is also suggested to be responsible for the yellow band. The position of this trap, at 2.5 eV below the conduction band, is confirmed by PICTS measurements, that show a hole thermal emission activation energy of 0.9 eV at 350 K.
