Modeling and analysis of the effects of inhomogeneous carrier distributions in InGaN multiple quantum wells

Abstract

It is well known that carrier distribution in InGaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) can be significantly inhomogeneous. However, the conventional ABC recombination model assumes that carriers are uniformly distributed throughout the MQW. In this paper, a modified ABC model that considers the unequal carrier density in the QWs was developed. From the analysis of the developed ABC model, the effective recombination coefficients and modified internal quantum efficiency (IQE) were obtained for an arbitrary carrier distribution in MQWs. The efficiency droop was found to be aggravated as the carrier distribution was increasingly inhomogeneous. However, it was also found that the effect of inhomogeneous carrier distribution alone was not sufficient to explain the IQE droop with the theoretical Auger recombination coefficient based on indirect Auger processes. The developed ABC model is expected to provide insight into the influence of inhomogeneous carrier distributions in MQWs on the efficiency droop in GaN-based light-emitting diodes.