Intersubband energies in strain-compensated InGaN/AlInN quantum well structures

Doyeol Ahn,Seoung-Hwan Park

doi:10.1063/1.4940899

Doyeol Ahn, Seoung-Hwan Park

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4940899

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Journal: AIP Advances	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
Citations: 1	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Seoul, Catholic University of Daegu

Abstract

Intersubband transition energies in the conduction band for strain-compensated InGaN/AlInN quantum well (QW) structures were investigated as a function of strain based on an effective mass theory with the nonparabolicity taken into account. In the case of an InGaN/AlInN QW structure lattice-matched to GaN, the wavelength is shown to be longer than 1.55 μm. On the other hand, strain-compensated QW structures show that the wavelength of 1.55 μm can be reached even for the QW structure with a relatively small strain of 0.3 %. Hence, the strain-compensated QW structures can be used for telecommunication applications at 1.55 μm with a small strain, compared to conventional GaN/AlN QW structure.

Highlights

Intersubband (ISB) transitions in semiconductor quantum wells (QWs) have been proven to have great potentials for optoelectronic applications in the mid- and far-infrared spectral regions.[1]
The strain-compensated QW structures can be used for telecommunication applications at 1.55 μm with a small strain, compared to conventional GaN/AlN QW structure
We expect that the strain-compensated QW structures can be used for telecommunication applications at 1.55 μm with a small strain (0.3-0.5 %)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Intersubband (ISB) transitions in semiconductor quantum wells (QWs) have been proven to have great potentials for optoelectronic applications in the mid- and far-infrared spectral regions.[1]. Several groups[10,14] suggested the use of InGaN/AlInN QW structures instead of GaN/AlN QW structures because Al1−yInyN with y = 0.18 is known to be lattice-matched to GaN.[12] They proposed InxGa1−xN/Al1−yInyN QW structure with x = 0.04 and y = 0.14 to obtain the 1.55 μm wavelength, which is a strain-compensated structure with compressive strain of −0.5 % and tensile strain of 0.5 % in the well and the barrier, respectively. We investigate intersubband transition energies as a function of strain in straincompensated InGaN/AlInN QW structures grown on GaN substrate using an effective mass theory considering the nonparabolicity of the conduction band.[15,16,17] Here, the well is compressively strained and the barrier is under tensile strain with the same magnitude of strain.

THEORETICAL MODEL

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

SUMMARY