Anomalous disorder-related phenomena in InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well heterosystems

The influences of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) heterostructures with InGaN/GaN and GaN barriers on carrier confinement were investigated. The degree of disordering over a broad range of temperatures from 20 to 300 K was considered. The optical and electrical properties were strongly influenced by structural and compositional disordering of the InGaN/GaN MQW heterostructures. To compare the degree of disordering we examined the temperature dependence of the luminescence spectra and electrical conductance contingent on the Berthelot-type mechanisms in the InGaN/GaN MQW heterostructures. We further considered carrier transport in the InGaN/GaN disordered systems, probability of carrier tunneling, and activation energy of the transport mechanism for devices with InGaN/GaN and GaN barriers. The optical properties of InGaN/GaN disordered heterosystems can be interpreted from the features of the absorption spectra. The anomalous temperature-dependent characteristics of the disordered InGaN/GaN MQW structures were attributable to the enhancement of the exciton confinement.     

Parameters-dependent nonlinear absorptions in InGaN/GaN MQW and GaN film

The optical nonlinearities of an InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) and a GaN film were experimentally investigated by using femtosecond Z-scan method in this paper. It was observed that the InGaN/GaN MQW displays a nonlinear saturable absorption (SA) effect and the nonlinear absorption coefficient β was determined to be ; and the GaN film shows a reverse saturable absorption (RSA) effect and the β is . It is also found that the absorption cross sections and quantum confinement effect (QCE) give an influence on the SA of the InGaN/GaN MQW structure.     

具有超晶格应力调制结构的绿光InGaN/GaN多量子阱的发光特性

研究了具有InGaN/GaN超晶格(SL)插入结构的绿光InGaN/GaN多量子阱(MQW)的发光特性。结构测试表明,SL插入结构并没有引起MQW中平均In组份的增加,而是改变了In组份的分布,形成了高In组份的量子点和低In组份量子阱。其电致发光(EL)谱和光致发光(PL)谱均出现了双发光峰。我们认为这两个 峰分别来自于量子点和量子阱,且存在着载流子从阱向点转移的输运机制。最后变温PL积分强度的Arrhenius 拟合表明,SL插入结构并没有在MQW中引入新的缺陷,使其发光效率下降。     

Simulation of InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes with a non-local quantum well transport model

Blue InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are simulated by the APSYS software with a non-local quantum well transport model which is used to describe the phenomenon that carriers can fly over the quantum wells directly. The simulation results based on this model are in good agreement with the experiment and show its significant influence on the output power, carrier transport, peak wavelength and current crowding effect of the InGaN/GaN MQW LEDs, indicating that the non-local quantum well transport plays an important role in these devices.     

Electroreflectance spectroscopy of compressively strained InGaN/GaN multi-quantum well structures

The built-in piezoelectric field induced by compressive stress in InGaN/GaN multi-quantum well (MQW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) was investigated using the electric field dependent electroreflectance (ER) spectroscopic method. InGaN/GaN MQW structures were prepared on sapphire substrates of different thicknesses. Thinning the sapphire substrate enables control of the compressive stress by changing the curvature of the wafer bowing. The wafer bowing-induced mechanical stress alters the piezoelectric field in the InGaN/GaN MQW. The flat band voltage, estimated by measuring the applied reverse bias voltage that induces a 180° phase shift in the ER spectra, was decreased from −11.21 V to −10.51 V by thinning the sapphire substrate thickness from 200 to 60 μm. To calculate the piezoelectric field (F_pz) from the compensation voltage, the depletion width was obtained from the capacitance–voltage measurement. The F_pz estimated from the energy shift in ER peak in a bias range from 0 to −12 V was changed by 110 kV/cm.     

Evaluation of polarization field in InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well structures by using electroluminescence spectra shift

In order to investigate the inherent polarization intensity in InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well(MQW) structures,the electroluminescence(EL) spectra of three samples with different GaN barrier thicknesses of 21.3 nm, 11.4 nm, and 6.5 nm are experimentally studied. All of the EL spectra present a similar blue-shift under the low-level current injection,and then turns to a red-shift tendency when the current increases to a specific value, which is defined as the turning point.The value of this turning point differs from one another for the three InGaN/GaN MQW samples. Sample A, which has the GaN barrier thickness of 21.3 nm, shows the highest current injection level at the turning point as well as the largest value of blue-shift. It indicates that sample A has the maximum intensity of the polarization field. The red-shift of the EL spectra results from the vertical electron leakage in InGaN/GaN MQWs and the corresponding self-heating effect under the high-level current injection. As a result, it is an effective approach to evaluate the polarization field in the InGaN/GaN MQW structures by using the injection current level at the turning point and the blue-shift of the EL spectra profiles.     

InGaN/GaN多量子阱结构发光二极管发光机理转变的低频电流噪声表征

本文对InGaN/GaN多量子阱结构发光二极管开启后的电流噪声进行了测试, 结合低频电流噪声的特点和载流子之间的复合机理, 研究了低频电流噪声功率谱密度与发光二极管发光转变机理之间的关系. 结论表明, 当电流从0.1 mA到10 mA逐渐增大的过程中, InGaN/GaN发光二极管的电流噪声行为从产生-复合噪声逐渐接近于低频1/f噪声, 载流子的复合机理从非辐射复合过渡为电子与空穴之间载流子数的辐射复合, 并具有标准1/f噪声的趋势, 此时多量子阱中的电子和空穴之间的复合趋向于稳定. 本文的结论提供了一种表征InGaN/GaN多量子阱发光二极管发光机理转变的有效方法, 为进一步研究发光二极管中载流子的复合机理、优化和设计发光二极管、提高其发光量子效率提供理论依据.     

Photoluminescence study of InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well with Si-doped InGaN electron-emitting Layer

InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structure with Si-doped InGaN electron-emitting layer (EEL) was grown by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition and their characteristics were evaluated by photoluminescence (PL) measurements. In a typical structure, a low indium composition and wide potential well was used to be an EEL, and a six-fold MQW was used to be an active layer where the injected carriers recombine. By comparing the PL spectral characteristics of the MQW samples, the PL intensity of MQW with EEL is about 10 times higher than that of typical MQW. Experimental results indicate that the high electron capture rate of the MQW active region can be achieved by employing EEL.     

Carrier transport via V-shaped pits in InGaN/GaN MQW solar cells

Carrier transport via the V-shaped pits(V-pits) in InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well(MQW) solar cells is numerically investigated. By simulations, it is found that the V-pits can act as effective escape paths for the photo-generated carriers. Due to the thin barrier thickness and low indium composition of the MQW on V-pit sidewall, the carriers entered the sidewall QWs can easily escape and contribute to the photocurrent. This forms a parallel escape route for the carries generated in the flat quantum wells. As the barrier thickness of the flat MQW increases, more carriers would transport via the V-pits. Furthermore, it is found that the V-pits may reduce the recombination losses of carriers due to their screening effect to the dislocations. These discoveries are not only helpful for understanding the carrier transport mechanism in the InGaN/GaN MQW, but also important in design of the structure of solar cells.     

Electrical Characteristics of InGaN/AlGaN and InGaN/GaN MQW Near UV-LEDs

Electrical characteristics of In0.05 Ga0.95N/Al0.07Ga0.9aN and In0.05 Ga0.95N/GaN multiple quantum well （MQW） ultraviolet light-emltting diodes （UV-LEDs） at 400hm wavelength are measured. It is found that for InGaN/AlGaN MQW LEDs, both ideality factor and parallel resistance are similar to those of InGaN/GaN MQW LEDs, while series resistance is two times larger. It is suggested that the Al0.07Ga0.93N barrier layer did not change crystal quality and electrical characteristic of p-n junction either, but brought larger series resistance. As a result, InGaN/AlGaN MQW LEDs suffer more serious thermal dissipation problem although they show higher light output efficiency.     

Optimization towards reduction of efficiency droop in blue GaN/InGaN based light emitting diodes

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) based on GaN/InGaN material suffer from efficiency droop at high current injection levels. We propose multiple quantum well (MQW) GaN/InGaN LEDs by optimizing the barrier thickness and high–low–high indium composition to reduce the efficiency droop. The simulation results reflect a significant improvement in the efficiency droop by using barrier width of 10 nm and high–low–high indium composition in MQW LED.     

Surfactant effects of indium on cracking in AlN/GaN distributed Bragg reflectors grown via metal organic vapor phase epitaxy

Aluminum Nitride (AlN) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) superlattice structures are often characterized by a network of cracks resulting from the large lattice mismatch and difference in thermal expansion coefficients, especially as the thickness of the layers increases. This work investigates the influence of indium as a surfactant on strain and cracking in AlN/GaN DBRs grown via Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE). DBRs with peak reflectivities ranging from 465 nm to 540 nm were grown and indium was introduced during the growth of the AlN layer. Image processing techniques were used to quantify the crack length per square millimeter and it was observed that indium has a significant effect on the crack formation and reduced the total crack length in these structures by a factor of two.     

Variation of efficiency droop with quantum well thickness in In GaN/GaN green light-emitting diode

In GaN/GaN multiple quantum well(MQW) green light-emitting diodes(LEDs) with varying In GaN quantum well layer thickness are fabricated and characterized. The investigation of luminescence efficiency versus injection current reveals that several physical mechanisms may jointly influence the efficiency droop, resulting in a non-monotonic variation of droop behavior with increasing quantum well(QW) thickness. When the QW is very thin, the increase of In GaN well layer thickness makes the efficiency droop more serious due to the enhancement of polarization effect. When the QW thickness increases further, however, the droop is alleviated significantly, which is mainly ascribed to the enhanced nonradiative recombination process and the weak delocalization effect.     

Structural and optical properties of an InxGa1−xN/GaN nanostructure

The structural and optical properties of an In_xGa_1−xN/GaN multi-quantum well (MQW) were investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and photoluminescence (PL). The MQW structure was grown on c-plane (0 0 0 1)-faced sapphire substrates in a low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactor. The room temperature photoluminescence spectrum exhibited a blue emission at 2.84 eV and a much weaker and broader yellow emission band with a maximum at about 2.30 eV. In addition, the optical gaps and the In concentration of the structure were estimated by direct interpretation of the pseudo-dielectric function spectrum. It was found that the crystal quality of the InGaN epilayer is strongly related with the Si doped GaN layer grown at a high temperature of 1090 °C. The experimental results show that the growth MQW on the high-temperature (HT) GaN buffer layer on the GaN nucleation layer (NL) can be designated as a method that provides a high performance InGaN blue light-emitting diode (LED) structure.     

硅衬底生长的InGaN/GaN多层量子阱中δ型硅掺杂n-GaN层对载流子复合过程的调节作用

为了解决在单晶硅衬底上生长的InGaN/GaN多层量子阱发光二极管器件发光效率显著降低的问题,使用周期性δ型Si掺杂的GaN取代Si均匀掺杂的GaN作为n型层释放多层界面间的张应力。采用稳态荧光谱及时间分辨荧光谱测量,提取并分析了使用该方案前后的多层量子阱中辐射/非辐射复合速率随温度（10~300 K）的变化规律。实验结果表明引入δ-Si掺杂的n-GaN层后,非辐射复合平均激活能由（18±3）meV升高到（38±10）meV,对应非辐射复合速率随温度升高而上升的趋势变缓,室温下非辐射复合速率下降,体系中与阱宽涨落有关的浅能级复合中心浓度减小,PL峰位由531 nm左右红移至579 nm左右,样品PL效率随温度的衰减受到抑制。使用周期性δ型Si掺杂的GaN取代Si均匀掺杂的GaN作为生长在Si衬底上的InGaN/GaN多层量子阱LED器件n型层,由于应力释放,降低了多层量子阱与n-GaN界面、InGaN/GaN界面的缺陷密度,使得器件性能得到了改善。     

Influence of growth parameters on the properties of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

The effects of growth parameters such as barrier growth time, growth pressure and indium flow rate on the properties of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) were investigated by using photoluminescence (PL), high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD), and atomic force microscope (AFM). The InGaN/GaN MQW structures were grown on c-plane sapphire substrate by using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. With increasing barrier growth time, the PL peak energy is blue-shifted by 18 nm. For InGaN/GaN MQW structures grown at different growth pressures, the PL intensity is maximized in the 300 Torr – grown structure, which could be attributed to the improved structural quality confirmed by HRXRD and AFM results. Also, the optical properties of InGaN/GaN MQW are strongly affected by the indium flow rate.     

InGaN/GaN量子阱垒层和阱层厚度对GaN基激光器性能的影响及机理

采用LASTIP软件研究了InGaN/GaN(In组分为15%)量子阱垒层和阱层厚度对GaN基蓝紫光激光器性能的影响及机理. 模拟计算结果表明, 当阱层太薄或太厚时, GaN基激光器的阈值电流增加、输出功率下降, 最优的阱层厚度为4.0 nm左右; 当阱层厚度太薄时, 载流子很容易泄漏, 而当阱层厚度太厚时, 极化效应导致发光效率降低, 研究还发现, 与垒层厚度为7 nm 相比, 垒层厚度为15 nm时激光器的阈值电流更低、输出功率更高, 因此适当地增加垒层厚度能显著抑制载流子泄漏, 从而改善激光器性能.     

The effect of junction temperature on the optoelectrical properties of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well light-emitting diodes

Thermal effects on the optoelectrical characteristics of green InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been investigated in detail for a broad temperature range, from 30 °C to 100 °C. The current-dependent electroluminescence (EL) spectra, current–voltage (I–V) curves and luminescence intensity–current (L–I) characteristics of green InGaN/GaN MQW LEDs have been measured to characterize the thermal-related effects on the optoelectrical properties of the InGaN/GaN MQW LEDs. The experimental results show that both the forward voltages decreased with a slope of ?3.7 mV/K and the emission peak wavelength increased with a slope of +0.02 nm/K with increasing temperature, indicating a change in the contact resistance between the metal and GaN layers and the existence of a band gap shrinkage effect. The junction temperature estimated from the forward voltage and the emission peak shift varied from 25.6 to 14.5 °C and from 22.4 to 35.6 °C, respectively. At the same time, the carrier temperature decreased from 371.2 to 348.1 °C as estimated from the slope of high-energy side of the emission spectra. With increasing injection current, there was found to be a strong current-dependent blueshift of ?0.15 nm/mA in the emission peak wavelength of the EL spectra. This could be attributed to not only the stronger band-filling effect but also the enhanced quantum confinement effect that resulted from the piezoelectric polarization and spontaneous polarization in InGaN/GaN heterostructures. We also demonstrate a helpful and easy way to measure and calculate the junction temperature of InGaN/GaN MQW LEDs.     

In组分渐变提高InGaN/GaN多量子阱发光二极管发光性能

利用金属有机物化学气相沉积系统在蓝宝石衬底上通过有源层的变温生长,得到In组分渐变的量子阱结构,从而获得具有三角形能带结构的InGaN/GaN多量子阱发光二极管(LED)(简称三角形量子阱结构LED).变温光致发光谱结果表明,相对于传统具有方形能带结构的量子阱LED(简称方形量子阱结构LED),三角形量子阱结构有效提高了量子阱中电子和空穴波函数的空间交叠,从而增加了LED的内量子效率;电致发光谱结果表明,三角形量子阱结构LED器件与传统结构LED器件相比,明显改善了发光峰值波长随着电流的蓝移现象.通过以上     

Optical resonant modes in InGaN MQW/GaN micro-cone

Arrays of InGaN MQW/GaN micro-cone cavities with a base diameter of 3.3 μm were fabricated by ion beam etching. The micro-cones consist of a 58 nm thick multiple quantum wells (MQW) of In_0.22Ga_0.78N/In_0.06Ga_0.94N as well as a 1.5 μm thick epilayer of GaN. By using a novel optical ray tracing method, we have figured out four main types of optical resonant cavities inside the three-dimensional micro-cone, including two Fabry–Perot modes types as well as two whispering gallery modes types. Optical resonant modes from a single micro-cone could be clearly observed in the photoluminescence spectra at temperature up to 200 K under a pumping power density two orders of magnitude lower than that for the III-nitride semiconductor micro-disk or micro-ring cavity. The corresponding mode spacings of the experimental results agree well with the calculated ones. The advantages of this new class of cavity are discussed. These findings are expected to have impact on the design of the UV/blue micro-cavity laser diodes.