Photo-induced droop in blue to red light emitting InGaN/GaN single quantum wells structures

Abstract

The variation of the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of single InGaN quantum well structures emitting from blue to red is studied as a function of the excitation power density and the temperature. By changing the well width, the indium content, and adding a strain compensation AlGaN layer, we could tune the intrinsic radiative recombination rate by changing the quantum confined Stark effect, and we could modify the carrier localization. Strong quantum confined Stark effect and carrier localization induce an increase in the carrier density and then favor Auger non-radiative recombination in the high excitation range. In such high excitation conditions with efficient Auger recombination, the variation of the IQE with the photo-excitation density P is ruled by a universal power law independent of the design: IQE = IQEMAX – a log10P with a close to 1/3. The temperature dependences of the different recombination mechanisms are determined. At low temperature, both quantum confined Stark effect and carrier localization trigger electron-electron repulsions and therefore the onset of the Auger effect. The increase in the value of coefficient C with changing temperature reveals indirect Auger recombination that relates to the interactions of the carriers with other phonons than the longitudinal optical one.