Concentration and band offset dependence of the electronic basic transition of cubic In xGa 1−xN/In yGa 1−yN quantum wells

Abstract

We calculate the transition energy from the first level of holes to the first level of electrons for cubic In x Ga 1− x N/In y Ga 1− y N quantum wells. We employ the empirical tight binding approach with an sp 3s * orbital basis, nearest neighbour interactions and the spin–orbit coupling, together with the surface Green function matching method. For the alloy, we use the virtual crystal approximation. We take into account the strain in the well. We assume a value of 0.65 eV for the InN bandgap and 3.3 eV for the GaN gap. Using a value of 20% for the valence band offset, we study the transition energy behaviour varying the well width for the sets of concentrations x=0.3, y=0.02 and y=0.05; x=0.15, y=0.05; and x=0.16, y=0. For the concentrations x=0.16, y=0, we also study the influence of the band offset using values of 20%, 50% and 80% for the valence band offset. We compare our calculations with experimental data from hexagonal and cubic quantum wells, and with other theoretical calculations for cubic quantum wells. The comparison of the calculations with the experimental results from hexagonal quantum wells is good. The theoretical energy transitions are 0.35–0.5 eV higher than those obtained experimentally for cubic quantum wells.