Inhomogeneous injection in III-nitride light emitters with deep multiple quantum wells

Abstract

Excessive depth of optically active quantum wells (QWs) and related increase in QW population capacity is one of the main causes of inhomogeneous carrier injection and unequal QW populations in multiple-quantum-well III-nitride light emitters operating in the visible range. In turn, uneven distribution of injected carriers across the device's active region creates imbalance between confined electron and hole QW populations and supports large residual QW charges, especially in marginally located n-side and p-side QWs. QW charges are strongly non-equilibrium as determined by dynamic balance between carrier capture and recombination rates, with the later being progressively faster in excessively deep QWs.