Control of the Mg doping profile in III-N light-emitting diodes and its effect on the electroluminescence efficiency

Abstract

The influence of the Mg doping profile on the electroluminescence (EL) efficiency of (AlGaIn)N quantum well (QW) light-emitting diodes, grown by low-pressure metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy on sapphire, has been investigated. The actual Mg profile close to the active region was found to be influenced by segregation as well as by diffusion during growth. In a first experiment, diffusion of the Mg dopants towards the QW region through a not intentionally doped narrow GaN spacer layer, separating the topmost GaInN quantum well from the AlGaN:Mg electron-blocking barrier, was controlled by the growth temperature of the AlGaN:Mg barrier and GaN:Mg contact layer. Starting from low growth temperatures, an increase in Mg concentration close to the active region results in an improved hole injection and thus increased EL efficiency. However, for a too high growth temperature, an excessive spread of the Mg atoms into the active region leads to nonradiative recombination in the QW active region and thus a reduction in EL output. In a second experiment, identical structures were prepared with the Mg-doped (Al)GaN layers grown at lower temperature to minimize Mg diffusion. Instead, the nominal Mg doping level in the GaN spacer layer was varied systematically. Secondary-ion-mass spectrometry revealed that almost identical Mg doping profiles close the QW active region, and in turn very similar EL efficiencies, can be achieved by both approaches when appropriate growth parameters are used.