Long wavelength InGaN/GaN quantum well (QW) light emitting diodes (LEDs) are essential components of solid-state lighting and displays. However, efficiency of these devices is inferior to that of blue LEDs. To a large degree, this occurs because equilibration of injected holes between multiple QWs of the active region is hindered by the high GaN quantum confinement and polarization barriers. This drawback could be overcome by lateral hole injection via semipolar QWs present on facets of V-defects that form at threading dislocations in polar GaN-based structures. In this work we have tested the viability of this injection mechanism and studied its properties by time-resolved and near-field spectroscopy techniques on multiple QW devices. We have found that indeed the hole injection via the V-defects does take place, the mechanism is fast, and the hole spread from the V-defect is substantial making this type of injection feasible for efficient long wavelength GaN LEDs.
V-defects play an important role in carrier recombination in polar InGaN quantum wells (QWs). Here we report a study of V-defects in QWs emitting from 410 to 570 nm performed by time-resolved near-field optical spectroscopy. In V-defect regions, the radiative carrier lifetime is longer and the nonradiative - shorted than in defect free regions, showing strong spatial variations of the internal quantum efficiency (IQE). The areas with the low IQE, however, are limited to regions just above the dislocations (~2% of the total sample area) showing that the nonradiative recombination at dislocations is not a major factor determining the IQE.
Efficient high-power operation of light emitting diodes based on InGaN quantum wells (QWs) requires rapid interwell hole transport and low nonradiative recombination. The transport rate can be increased by replacing GaN barriers with that of InGaN. Introduction of InGaN barriers, however, increases the rate of the nonradiative recombination. In this work, we have attempted to reduce the negative impact of the nonradiative recombination by introducing thin GaN or AlGaN interlayers at the QW/barrier interfaces. The interlayers, indeed, reduce the nonradiative recombination rate and increase the internal quantum efficiency by about 10%. Furthermore, the interlayers do not substantially slow down the interwell hole transport; for 0.5 nm Al0.10Ga0.90N interlayers the transport rate has even been found to increase. Another positive feature of the interlayers is narrowing of the QW PL linewidth, which is attributed to smoother QW interfaces and reduced fluctuations of the QW width.
Ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy was applied to measure several fundamental material parameters in β-Ga2O3. These include times for the hole self-trapping into a polaron state, electron-phonon scattering, and energy of the lowest conduction band side valley. These different parameters were assessed by using spectrally tuneable pump and probe pulses at proper wavelengths. The obtained 300 K scattering times are 0.5 ps for the hole self-trapping, 4.5 fs for the electron-polar optical phonon scattering, and 80 fs for scattering to and from the side valley. The energy of the lowest side valley in the conduction band is 2.6 eV.
KEYWORDS: Quantum wells, Indium gallium nitride, Near field scanning optical microscopy, Optical microscopy, Near field, Luminescence, Spectroscopy, Interfaces, Electrons, Near field optics
Band potential fluctuations in InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs) induce carrier localization that affects emission linewidth and carrier recombination rate. Alloy composition and well width variations are considered as main sources of the potential fluctuations and are often treated indiscriminately. However, their impact on the emission linewidth and the carrier lifetimes may be different. Besides, the impact of the QW width fluctuations on the linewidth could possibly be reduced via optimization of growth, while random alloy composition fluctuations can hardly be avoided. In this work, we have studied these effects in green-emitting semipolar (20-21) plane InGaN/GaN single QW structures of different well widths (2, 4 and 6 nm) and in structures with different number of QWs (1, 5 and 10). Experiments have been performed by scanning near-field photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. It has been found that the well width fluctuations, compared to the InGaN alloy composition variations, play a negligible role in defining the PL linewidth. In multiple QW structures, the alloy composition fluctuations are spatially uncorrelated between the wells. Despite that the 10 QW structure exceeds the critical thickness, no PL linewidth changes related to a structural relaxation have been detected. On the other hand, the well width fluctuations have a large impact on the recombination times. In-plane electric fields, caused by the nonplanarity of QW interfaces, separate electrons and holes into different potential minima increasing the lifetimes in wide QWs.
The energy difference between the lowest conduction band valleys is a fundamental semiconductor parameter affecting performance of electronic devices via intervalley electron scattering. Surprisingly, the intervalley energy (IVE) value in GaN is still disputed. Recent photoemission experiments showed that IVE is 0.90 – 0.95 eV, which is considerably smaller than the >2 eV values obtained by ab initio calculations.
One of the suitable techniques to measure IVE is time-resolved spectroscopy. Excitation wavelength dependent photoluminescence and pump-probe transients allow pinpointing the onset of the intervalley scattering by increase of the electron relaxation time towards the bottom of the conduction band. In this work, we apply this approach by performing differential transmission (DT) and reflection (DR) measurements on n-GaN crystal. In DR, ultraviolet (UV) pump creates electrons in the Γ valley at energies around the scattering threshold, and the onset energy is determined by the change of the electron relaxation time towards the bottom of the conduction band. However, IVE evaluated using this technique is affected by the poor knowledge of the valence band dispersion at large k values. This problem is circumvented in the DT measurements, in which only conduction band states are involved. The DT decay time spectrum provided the IVE value of 0.97 ± 0.02 eV, close to the photoemission data. Comparison of DT and DR intervalley scattering onsets allowed estimating the hole mass as 1.4m0. Modelling of the DR transients with rate equations produced intra-and intervalley electron - LO phonon scattering times of 30 and 15 fs, respectively.
Scanning near-field PL spectroscopy was applied to study spatial variations of the emission spectra of AlGaN epilayers with AlN molar fractions between 0.3 and 0.7. Experiments were performed at 300 K with 100 nm spatial resolution. In general, photoluminescence spectra were found to be highly uniform with the peak energy deviation of 2 to 6 meV for different alloy compositions. In the 30% and 42% Al layers, a slightly lower Al content and a higher point defect concentration at the boundaries of growth domains were detected. These features were attributed to the higher mobility of Ga adatoms during growth. The inhomogeneous broadening beyond the random alloy distribution was found negligible for the 30% and 42% Al samples, and about 40–50 meV for the layers with a larger Al content.
Spatial variations of band potentials and properties of carrier recombination were examined in semipolar (2021) plane InGaN/GaN single quantum wells by scanning near-field photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The quantum wells had In content from 0.11 to 0.36 and were emitting from violet to yellow-green. Near-field scans showed small PL peak energy and linewidth variations with standard deviations below 10 meV, which confirms small alloy composition variations in the quantum wells. The scans revealed large, ~5 to 10 μm size areas of similar PL parameter values, as opposed to 100 nm scale variations, often reported for InGaN wells. With increased excitation power, an untypical photoluminescence peak energy shift to lower energies was observed. The shift was attributed to density dependent carrier redistribution between nm-scale sites of different potentials. The experimental results show that in the (2021) plane InGaN quantum wells the localization potentials are shallow and the recombination properties are spatially rather uniform, which confirms the high potential of these QWs for photonic applications.
Electroluminescence of 285 and 340 nm AlGaN quantum well light emitting diodes (LEDs) has been studied by
scanning near-field optical spectroscopy. In the 285 nm devices, the near-field scans revealed hexagonal cross hatch
microcracks that can be related to strain relaxation. Besides, μm size areas emitting with a higher intensity and at a
longer wavelength, presumably, due to lower AlN molar fraction, have been observed. Near-field scans performed
during subsequent days revealed that with time, intensity from these spots increases and emission wavelength shifts to
the red, indicating further change in the quantum well alloy composition. This has allowed distinguishing a novel LED
aging mechanism that involves locally increased current, heating and Al atom migration. For the 340 nm emitting device
with lower Al content in the active region, no such features have been observed.
We have demonstrated surface normal detecting/filtering/emitting multiple functional ultraviolet (UV) optoelectronic devices based on InGaN/GaN, InGaN/AlGaN and AlxGa1-xN/AlyGa1-yN multiple quantum well (MQW) structures with operation wavelengths ranging from 270 nm to 450 nm. Utilizing MQW structure as device active layer offers a flexibility to tune its long cut-off wavelength in a wide UV range from solar-blind to visible by adjusting the well width, well composition and barrier height. Similarly, its short cut-off wavelength can be adjusted by using a GaN or AlGaN block layer on a sapphire substrate when the device is illuminated from its backside, which further provides an optical filtering effect. When a current injects into the device under forward bias the device acts as an UV light emitter, whereas the device performs as a typical photodetector under reverse biases. With applying an alternating external bias the device might be used as electroabsorption modulator due to quantum confined Stark effect. In present work fabricated devices have been characterized by transmission/absorption spectra, photoresponsivity, electroluminescence, and photoluminescence measurements under various forward and reverse biases. The piezoelectric effect, alloy broadening and Stokes shift between the emission and absorption spectra in different InGaN- and AlGaN-based QW structures have been investigated and compared. Possibilities of monolithic or hybrid integration using such multiple functional devices for biological warfare agents sensing application have also be discussed.
In this work variations of the carrier lifetime in a GaInAsP/InP quantum well in two-dimensional PhC structures etched
by Ar/Cl2 chemically assisted ion beam etching as a function of the processing parameters is investigated. It is shown
that the deposition conditions of the SiO2 mask material and its coverage as well as other process steps such as annealing
affect the carrier lifetimes. However the impact of patterning the semiconductor on the carrier lifetime is dominant,
showing over an order of magnitude reduction. For given PhC lattice parameters, the sidewall damage is shown to be
directly related to the measured carrier lifetimes. A simple qualitative model based on sputtering theory and assuming a
conical hole-shape development during etching is used to explain the experimental results.
We propose and demonstrate a new method to reduce the absorption recovery time of semiconductor saturable absorber
mirrors operating at the 1060-nm wavelength range. The method is based on controlling the amount of nonradiative
recombination centers within the absorbing region by incorporating an InGaP epitaxial layer with a relative large lattice
mismatch to GaAs (~2.2 %). The defect density within the absorbing region can be controlled by the thickness of a GaAs
buffer layer grown between the InGaP lattice mismatched layer and the InGaAs/GaAs quantum-wells. For thickness of
the GaAs buffer of ~110 nm and ~570 nm the absorption recovery time was ~5 ps and ~10 ps, respectively. It is
important to note that the fast recovery time was achieved without degrading the nonlinear optical properties of the
saturable absorber mirror. The practicality of the structures was proved by demonstrating a reliable self-starting
operation of a mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser.
We discuss a new method to shape the temporal response of saturable absorption in semiconductors. In particular, we
investigate the possibility to control independently the absorption recovery time of each quantum-well forming the
semiconductor absorber. The recovery time is tailored by irradiation with nitrogen ions produced by an RF-plasma
source. The irradiation is performed in-situ as one step of the epitaxial growth process; the quantum-wells are
individually exposed to a flux of N-ions after they are grown. The amount of non-radiative recombination centers within
the quantum-wells is strongly related to the time interval during which the N-ions flux is active and to the thickness of
the semiconductor layer grown on top of each quantum-well before the irradiation is performed. We apply this method to
fabricate fast semiconductor saturable absorbers operating in the 1-&mgr;m wavelength range. The absorption recovery time
could be changed from 300 ps to 10 ps without degradation of the nonlinear optical response. The practicality of the
design is finally proved by using the semiconductor saturable absorbers for mode-locking Yb-doped fiber lasers.
Heavy ion implantation into InP and In0.53Ga0.47As and rapid thermal annealing has been applied to produce materials with high resistivity, good mobility and ultrashort carrier lifetime, as required for ultrafast optoelectronic applications. Two implantation methods have been analyzed: Fe+ implantation into semi-insulating InP and InGaAs, and P+ implantation into p-doped InP and InGaAs. Both approaches allow production of layers with high sheet resistance, up to 106 Ω/square for the P+-implanted compounds. Electron mobility in the high resistivity layers is of the order of 102 cm2V-1s-1. Carrier lifetimes, measured by the time-resolved photoluminescence and reflectivity, can be tuned from ~100 femtoseconds to tens of picoseconds by choosing implantation and annealing conditions. Measurements of carrier dynamics have shown that carrier traps act as efficient recombination centers, at least for the case of InP. The dependencies of electrical and ultrafast optical properties on the implantation dose and annealing temperature are determined by the interplay between shallow P and As antisite-related donors, deep Fe-related acceptors and defect complexes.
This paper proceeds from basic research on carrier dynamics to applications in high-speed laser devices. Different retardation mechanisms are studied experimentally and theoretically providing input for the design of high-speed laser devices. Optically detected carrier dynamics in III/V semiconductor quantum well (QW) heterostructures perpendicular to the interfaces is studied. Photoluminescence emissions originating from different semiconductor layers are recorded time-resolved to probe the carrier dynamics between these layers. High spatial and temporal resolution is obtained experimentally, partly even in the nm and sub-ps ranges, respectively. Retardation effects are separated and studied experimentally and theoretically by corresponding model calculations. A material comparison shows that GaInAsP is beneficial due to considerable advantages in technological implementation processes and AlGaInAs is superior from a physical point of view enabling higher modulation band-widths due to larger conduction band discontinuities. The equalization of the carrier densities in the individual wells is found to be mainly retarded by hole thermionic emission. Hole transport in the p-sided confinement layer and electron capture from the p-sided confinement layer is also found to be also a limiting factor. These results are used to optimized AlGaInAs/InP lasers with asymmetric confinement layers. The p-sided confinement layer is reduced on the costs of the n- sided confinement layer to obtain (1) a faster hole transport across the p-sided confinement layer and (2) to accelerate the capture of electrons from the p-sided confinement layers being uncaptured during the transfer across the QWs. In our experiments a modulation bandwidth of 26 GHz is obtained. Even higher values are found in corresponding theoretical model calculations demonstrating an interesting development potential.
Optically detected carrier dynamics in III/V semiconductor quantum well (QW) heterostructures perpendicular to the interfaces is studied. Photoluminescence emission originating form different semiconductor layers are recorded time-resolved to probe the carrier dynamics between these layers. High spatial and temporal resolution is obtained experimentally, partly even in the nm and sub-ps ranges, respectively. Using several specially tailored semiconductor heterostructures enable the following individual dynamic effects to be studied and separated: transport in extended unquantized layers, capture into the QWs, relaxation in the QWs, tunneling between the QWs and thermal re-emission from the QWs. These basic physical effects have to be studied and understood to design and implement modern high-speed semiconductor laser devices. AlGaInAs and GaInAsP heterostructures are compared with respect to interwell transfer efficiencies and problems in technological implementation. This paper proceeds from basic research to applications in high-speed laser devices.
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