InGaN-GaN Multiple Quantum Wells Research Articles

The properties of reversed polarization yellow InGaN-GaN MQWs in p-side down structure grown by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition on sapphire substrate

The reversed polarization yellow emission InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) in p-side down (PDMQWs) and n-side down (NDMQWs) structures were grown by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition on sapphire substrates. The properties of PDMQWs in surface morphology, interface quality, optical characteristic, and impurities distribution were investigated and compared with those of NDMQWs. Though degrading the interface abruptness of PDMQWs, the rough surface of p-GaN underlying layer was found to promote InGaN compositional fluctuation or phase separation and the resultant formation of nanodot-like structures with higher In-composition. At the same growth conditions and the similar In-composition for two MQWs, PDMQWs present a longer emission wavelength with an extra emission peak from In-rich nanodot-like structures, compared with that of NDMQWs. Mg memory effect introduces high concentrations of Mg residual in PDMQWs accompanying with the incorporation of C, H, and O impurities, which impose negative influence on the optical properties of PDMQWs. The potentials and problems, as well as the possible problem-solving methods of p-side down light-emitting diodes (PDLEDs) in developing long wavelength emitter were also discussed, which may bring some new thinkings for the design of III-nitrides PDLEDs.

Investigation of Emission Polarization and Strain in InGaN–GaN Multiple Quantum Wells on Nanorod Epitaxially Lateral Overgrowth Templates

Non-polar (a-plane) InGaN-GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) on the GaN nanorod epitaxially lateral overgrowth templates with different nanorod height have been fabricated. The average in-plane strain in the InGaN MQWs has been determined from 2.73 × 10-2 to 2.58 × 10-2 while the nanorod height in templates increases from 0 to 1.7 μm. The polarization ratio of the emission from InGaN MQWs varies from 85 % to 53 % along with the increase of the GaN nanorod height. The reduction of polarization ratio has been attributed to the partial strain relaxation within the epitaxial structures as a result of growth on the GaN nanorod templates and the micro-size air-voids observed in the nanorod templates.

Very-High Temperature (200 $^{\circ}$C) and High-Speed Operation of Cascade GaN-Based Green Light- Emitting Diodes With an InGaN Insertion Layer

We demonstrate a novel type of linear cascade green light-emitting diode (LED) arrays as a light source for in-car or harsh environment plastic optical fiber (POF) communications. To further enhance its dynamic and static performance, an InGaN layer is inserted between an n-type GaN cladding layer and InGaN-GaN multiple quantum wells as an efficient current spreading layer. Compared with the control device without that layer, our three-LED cascade array demonstrates a smaller turn-on voltage (9.3 versus 11 V at 20 mA) and a larger output power (25.5 versus 22.5 mW at 180 mA), corresponding to an enhancement of around 31% in wall-plug efficiency. Furthermore, under the constant voltage bias of an in-car battery (12 V), our three-LED array exhibits an electrical-to-optical 3-dB bandwidth (100 versus 40 MHz) performance superior to that of the control device. Even under high-temperature dynamic operation, we observe that the InGaN insertion layer gives strong enhancement of modulation speed with negligible degradation of the output power, unlike the red resonant-cavity LEDs conventionally used for POF. We achieve 200-Mb/s error-free transmission at 200°C which is the highest operation temperature among all the reported high-speed LEDs.

Light Output Improvement of Oxide-Textured InGaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes by Bias-Assisted Photoelectrochemical Oxidation With Imprint Technique

The improvement of light output power in InGaN-GaN multiple quantum-well (MQW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with oxide textural films are observed. The oxide textural films are grown by alternating current bias-assisted photoelectrochemical oxidation with an imprint technique. At an injection current of 20 mA, the light output power of the oxide-textured InGaN-GaN MQW LEDs is 22% higher than that of the conventional LEDs. Relatively low values in leakage current for the oxide-textured are also observed, as compared to the conventional LEDs. This enhancement in the oxide-textured LEDs performance is attributed to the increase in external quantum efficiency by the nanoscale roughness of the convex oxide films and to the passivation in possible leakage paths of the devices.

Optimization of InGaN–GaN MQW Photodetector Structures for High-Responsivity Performance

InGaN-GaN multiple-quantum-well (MQW)-based photodetectors, with a detection edge at 450 nm and a high responsivity, have been fabricated and characterized. We show that the performance of MQW-based photodetectors strongly depends on a proper device design, i.e., number of QWs, and barrier and blocking layer thickness and doping level. Namely, the responsivity can be varied in the ~ 1 to ~ 100 mA/W range in similar structures and with the same number of QWs. These results support a model where the photocurrent increase is due to the improvement of collection efficiency caused by a change in transport mechanism for carriers photogenerated in the QWs. The transport mechanism depends on the location of the QWs in relation to the depletion region.

Effect of Thickness of the p-AlGaN Electron Blocking Layer on the Improvement of ESD Characteristics in GaN-Based LEDs

The following letter presents a study regarding GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with p-type AlGaN electron blocking layers (EBLs) of different thicknesses. The study revealed that the LEDs could endure higher electrostatic discharge (ESD) levels as the thickness of the AlGaN EBL increased. The observed improvement in the ESD endurance ability could be attributed to the fact that the thickened p-AlGaN EBL may partly fill the dislocation-related pits that occur on the surface of the InGaN-GaN multiple-quantum well (MQW) and that are due to the strain and the low-temperature-growth process. If these dislocation-related pits are not partly suppressed, they will eventually result in numerous surface pits associated with threading dislocations that intersect the InGaN-GaN (MQW), thereby reducing the ESD endurance ability. The results of the experiment show that the ESD endurance voltages could increase from 1500 to 6000 V when the thickness of the p-AlGaN EBL in the GaN LEDs is increased from 32.5 to 130 nm, while the forward voltages and light output powers remained almost the same.

Fabrication of Microcavity Light-Emitting Diodes Using Highly Reflective AlN–GaN and Ta$_{2}$O$_{5}$–SiO$_{2}$ Distributed Bragg Mirrors

We report the fabrication of microcavity light-emitting diodes (MCLEDs) with high reflectivity and crack-free AlN-GaN distributed Bragg reflector (DBR). The 5lambda microcavity structure consists of an n-type GaN, ten pairs InGaN-GaN multiple quantum wells and p-type GaN sandwiched between the hybrid cavity mode of an AlN-GaN and a Ta <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">5</sub> -SiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> DBR. The AlN-GaN DBR has 29 periods with insertion of six AlN-GaN superlattice layers showing a crack-free surface morphology and a high peak reflectivity of 99.4% with a stopband of 21 nm. The output power of MCLED is about 11 W at an injection current of 7 mA. The electroluminescence has a polarization property with a degree of polarization of about 51%.

Enhanced carrier confinement in AlInGaN-InGaN quantum wells in near ultraviolet light-emitting diodes

To increase carrier confinement, the GaN barrier layer was substituted with an AlInGaN quaternary barrier layer which was lattice-matched to GaN in the GaN-InGaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs). Photoluminescence (PL) and high-resolution X-ray diffraction measurements showed that the AlInGaN barrier layer has a higher bandgap energy than the originally used GaN barrier layer. The PL intensity of the five periods of AlInGaN-InGaN MQWs was increased by three times compared to that of InGaN-GaN MQWs. The electroluminescence (EL) emission peak of AlInGaN-InGaN MQWs ultraviolet light-emitting diode (UV LED) was blue-shifted, compared to a GaN-InGaN MQWs UV LED and the integrated EL intensity of the AlInGaN-InGaN MQWs UV LED increased linearly up to 100 mA. These results indicated that the AlInGaN-InGaN MQWs UV LED has a stronger carrier confinement than a GaN-InGaN MQWs UV LED due to the larger barrier height of the AlInGaN barrier layer compared to a GaN barrier layer.

Boundary effects on the optical properties of InGaN multiple quantum wells

We examine the issues of spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization discontinuity on the optical properties of 3.0-nm-thick indium gallium nitride (InGaN) multiple quantum wells (MQWs). A quench of band-edge emission from the cap GaN layer is observed when the photoexcitation source is changed from a 355- to a 248-nm laser. The interband transitions from the InGaN wells exhibit a linear dependence on the 1) spectral blue shift of ∼8.5×10/sup -18/ meV /spl middot/ cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> and 2) change of the internal field of ∼3×10/sup -14/ meV /spl middot/ cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> with the injected carrier density up to N/sub inj/∼10/sup 19/ cm/sup -3/ at 77 K. These observations are attributed to the redistribution of photogenerated carriers in the InGaN wells due to the polarization discontinuity at the QW interface and the surface band bending effect. By incorporating an additional boundary condition of surface Fermi-level pinning into the Poisson equation and the band-structure analysis, it is shown the emission from the InGaN-GaN MQWs is dominant by the recombination between the high-lying subbands and the screening of internal field effects.

White-light emission from InGaN-GaN multiquantum-well light-emitting diodes with Si and Zn codoped active well layer

Si and Zn codoped In/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/N-GaN multiple-quantum-well (MQW) light-emitting diode (LED) structures were grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). It was found that we can observe a broad long-wavelength donor-acceptor (D-A) pair related emission at 500 nm/spl sim/560 nm. White light can thus be achieved by the combination of such a long-wavelength D-A pair emission with the InGaN bandedge related blue emission. It was also found that the electroluminescence (EL) spectra of such Si and Zn codoped InGaN-GaN MQW LEDs are very similar to those measured from phosphor-converted white LEDs. That is, we can achieve white light emission without the use of phosphor by properly adjusting the indium composition and the concentrations of the codoped Si and Zn atoms in the active well layers and the amount of injection current.

Enhanced output power in an InGaN-GaN multiquantum-well light-emitting diode with an InGaN current-spreading layer

InGaN-GaN multiple quantum-well (MQW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with InGaN current-spreading layer were grown by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE) and their characteristics were evaluated by current-voltage (I-V), as well as output power measurements. Experimental results indicate that the LEDs exhibited a higher output power and a lower operation voltage than that of conventional LEDs. The external quantum efficiency of InGaN-GaN MQW LEDs for bare chips operated at injection current of 20 mA with InGaN current spreading layer near 5%. This is two times higher than that of conventional LEDs. This could be tentatively attributed to the better current-spreading effect resulting from Si-doped In/sub 0.18/Ga/sub 0.82/N wide potential well in which electron states are not quantized.