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Title: Reduction of efficiency droop in c-plane InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes using a thick single quantum well with doped barriers

Abstract

We report on c-plane InGaN/GaN single quantum well (QW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) of different well widths (3 or 9 nm) with and without doped barriers. QW barriers were doped with the aim of reducing the internal electric field (FQW) in the QW to increase the electron-hole overlap, therefore increasing the recombination rates and resulting in the reduction of the efficiency droop. We, indeed, observed, through biased photocurrent spectroscopy, a reduction in FQW with doped barriers, with FQW being in the same direction of the p-n junction field at zero bias as opposed to the junction field for LEDs without doped barriers. Even with the improvement in the ground state wavefunction overlap, the ground state transition rate remains low for thick QWs. Transitions through excited states were observed for both thick QW LEDs with and without doped barriers. Here, the thick QW LED without doped barriers displayed low external quantum efficiency (EQE), likely as a result of the carrier overflow due to the poor confinement of carriers in the excited states. On the other hand, for LEDs with doped barriers, the flatter band in the QW resulting from the lower FQW reduces the energy separation between the eigenstates, leading to bettermore » confinement of carriers in the excited states. With doped barriers, we demonstrated a low efficiency droop 9-nm-thick single QW LED with a peak EQE of 42% at 40 A/cm2 and an EQE of 36% at 400 A/cm2.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States); Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau (France)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1834371
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1832915
Grant/Contract Number:  
EE0008204; 2150283
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 119; Journal Issue: 22; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
42 ENGINEERING; Solid-state lighting; Light-emitting diode; Nitrides; Quantum wells; Doping; Quantum efficiency; Photocurrent spectroscopy; P-N junctions; Electroluminescence; Electronic band structure

Citation Formats

Chow, Y. C., Lynsky, C., Wu, F., Nakamura, S., DenBaars, S. P., Weisbuch, C., and Speck, J. S. Reduction of efficiency droop in c-plane InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes using a thick single quantum well with doped barriers. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1063/5.0073741.
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Chow, Y. C., Lynsky, C., Wu, F., Nakamura, S., DenBaars, S. P., Weisbuch, C., & Speck, J. S. Reduction of efficiency droop in c-plane InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes using a thick single quantum well with doped barriers. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0073741
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Chow, Y. C., Lynsky, C., Wu, F., Nakamura, S., DenBaars, S. P., Weisbuch, C., and Speck, J. S. Mon . "Reduction of efficiency droop in c-plane InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes using a thick single quantum well with doped barriers". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0073741. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1834371.
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@article{osti_1834371,
title = {Reduction of efficiency droop in c-plane InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes using a thick single quantum well with doped barriers},
author = {Chow, Y. C. and Lynsky, C. and Wu, F. and Nakamura, S. and DenBaars, S. P. and Weisbuch, C. and Speck, J. S.},
abstractNote = {We report on c-plane InGaN/GaN single quantum well (QW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) of different well widths (3 or 9 nm) with and without doped barriers. QW barriers were doped with the aim of reducing the internal electric field (FQW) in the QW to increase the electron-hole overlap, therefore increasing the recombination rates and resulting in the reduction of the efficiency droop. We, indeed, observed, through biased photocurrent spectroscopy, a reduction in FQW with doped barriers, with FQW being in the same direction of the p-n junction field at zero bias as opposed to the junction field for LEDs without doped barriers. Even with the improvement in the ground state wavefunction overlap, the ground state transition rate remains low for thick QWs. Transitions through excited states were observed for both thick QW LEDs with and without doped barriers. Here, the thick QW LED without doped barriers displayed low external quantum efficiency (EQE), likely as a result of the carrier overflow due to the poor confinement of carriers in the excited states. On the other hand, for LEDs with doped barriers, the flatter band in the QW resulting from the lower FQW reduces the energy separation between the eigenstates, leading to better confinement of carriers in the excited states. With doped barriers, we demonstrated a low efficiency droop 9-nm-thick single QW LED with a peak EQE of 42% at 40 A/cm2 and an EQE of 36% at 400 A/cm2.},
doi = {10.1063/5.0073741},
journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
number = 22,
volume = 119,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Nov 29 00:00:00 EST 2021},
month = {Mon Nov 29 00:00:00 EST 2021}
}
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