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Title: Calcium impurity as a source of non-radiative recombination in (In,Ga)N layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract

Ca as an unintentional impurity has been investigated in III-nitride layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). It is found that Ca originates from the substrate surface, even if careful cleaning and rinsing procedures are applied. The initial Ca surface coverage is similar to 10(12) cm(-2), which is consistent with previous reports on GaAs and silicon wafers. At the onset of growth, the Ca species segregates at the growth front while incorporating at low levels. The incorporation rate is strongly temperature dependent. It is about 0.03% at 820 degrees C and increases by two orders of magnitude when the temperature is reduced to 600 degrees C, which is the typical growth temperature for InGaN alloy. Consequently, [Ca] is as high as 10(18) cm(-3) in InGaN/GaN quantum well structures. Such a huge concentration might be detrimental for the efficiency of light emitting diodes (LEDs) if one considers that Ca is potentially a source of Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) defects. We thus developed a specific growth strategy to reduce [Ca] in the MBE grown LEDs, which consisted of burying Ca in a low temperature InGaN/GaN superlattice (SL) before the growth of the active region. Finally, two LED samples with and without an SL weremore » fabricated. An increase in the output power by one order of magnitude was achieved when Ca was reduced in the LED active region, providing evidence for the role of Ca in the SRH recombination.« less

Authors:
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States). Materials Dept.
  2. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States). Materials Dept.; Swiss Federal Inst. of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne (Switzerland). Inst. of Physics
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office; King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia); King Abdullah Univ. of Science and Technology, Thuwal (Saudi Arabia)
OSTI Identifier:
1429096
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1333348; OSTI ID: 1635246
Grant/Contract Number:  
EE0007096
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 109; Journal Issue: 21; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Condensed matter properties; mass spectrometry; light emitting diodes; surface and interface chemistry; chemical analysis; semiconductors; III-V semiconductors; quantum wells; surface treatments; thin film deposition; semiconductor materials; epitaxy; electroluminescence; lasers; superlattices; crystallography; materials treatment; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; light emitting diodes, solid state lighting

Citation Formats

Young, E. C., Grandjean, N., Mates, T. E., and Speck, J. S. Calcium impurity as a source of non-radiative recombination in (In,Ga)N layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4968586.
Young, E. C., Grandjean, N., Mates, T. E., & Speck, J. S. Calcium impurity as a source of non-radiative recombination in (In,Ga)N layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4968586
Young, E. C., Grandjean, N., Mates, T. E., and Speck, J. S. 2016. "Calcium impurity as a source of non-radiative recombination in (In,Ga)N layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4968586. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1429096.
@article{osti_1429096,
title = {Calcium impurity as a source of non-radiative recombination in (In,Ga)N layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy},
author = {Young, E. C. and Grandjean, N. and Mates, T. E. and Speck, J. S.},
abstractNote = {Ca as an unintentional impurity has been investigated in III-nitride layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). It is found that Ca originates from the substrate surface, even if careful cleaning and rinsing procedures are applied. The initial Ca surface coverage is similar to 10(12) cm(-2), which is consistent with previous reports on GaAs and silicon wafers. At the onset of growth, the Ca species segregates at the growth front while incorporating at low levels. The incorporation rate is strongly temperature dependent. It is about 0.03% at 820 degrees C and increases by two orders of magnitude when the temperature is reduced to 600 degrees C, which is the typical growth temperature for InGaN alloy. Consequently, [Ca] is as high as 10(18) cm(-3) in InGaN/GaN quantum well structures. Such a huge concentration might be detrimental for the efficiency of light emitting diodes (LEDs) if one considers that Ca is potentially a source of Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) defects. We thus developed a specific growth strategy to reduce [Ca] in the MBE grown LEDs, which consisted of burying Ca in a low temperature InGaN/GaN superlattice (SL) before the growth of the active region. Finally, two LED samples with and without an SL were fabricated. An increase in the output power by one order of magnitude was achieved when Ca was reduced in the LED active region, providing evidence for the role of Ca in the SRH recombination.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4968586},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1429096}, journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
issn = {0003-6951},
number = 21,
volume = 109,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Nov 23 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Wed Nov 23 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}

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Cited by: 19 works
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Works referenced in this record:

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Works referencing / citing this record:

GaN surface as the source of non-radiative defects in InGaN/GaN quantum wells
journal, September 2018


Evidence of trap-assisted Auger recombination in low radiative efficiency MBE-grown III-nitride LEDs
journal, November 2019


Recombination dynamics in GaInN/GaN quantum wells
journal, June 2019