skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Carrier recombination mechanisms and efficiency droop in GaInN/GaN light-emitting diodes

Journal Article · · Appl. Phys. Lett.
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3493654· OSTI ID:1065179
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3]
  1. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States)
  2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  3. Samsung LED, Suwon (Korea)

We model the carrier recombination mechanisms in GaInN/GaN light-emitting diodes as R=An+Bn2 +Cn3 +f(n) , where f(n) represents carrier leakage out of the active region. The term f(n) is expanded into a power series and shown to have higher-than-third-order contributions to the recombination. The total third-order nonradiative coefficient (which may include an f(n) leakage contribution and an Auger contribution) is found to be 8×10-29 cm6 s-1 . Comparison of the theoretical ABC+f(n) model with experimental data shows that a good fit requires the inclusion of the f(n) term.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). EFRC for Solid State Lighting Science (SSLS)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
1065179
Journal Information:
Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 97; Related Information: SSLS partners with Sandia National Laboratories (lead); California Institute of Technology; University of California, Irvine, Merced, and Santa Barbara; Los Alamos National Laboratory; University of New Mexico; Northwestern University; Philips Lumileds Lighting
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (17)

Origin of efficiency droop in GaN-based light-emitting diodes journal October 2007
Effect of dislocation density on efficiency droop in GaInN∕GaN light-emitting diodes journal December 2007
On resonant optical excitation and carrier escape in GaInN/GaN quantum wells journal February 2009
Polarization-matched GaInN∕AlGaInN multi-quantum-well light-emitting diodes with reduced efficiency droop journal July 2008
Enhanced electron capture and symmetrized carrier distribution in GaInN light-emitting diodes having tailored barrier doping journal March 2010
Effect of heterointerface polarization charges and well width upon capture and dwell time for electrons and holes above GaInN/GaN quantum wells journal March 2010
Performance of High-Power AlInGaN Light Emitting Diodes journal November 2001
Auger recombination in InGaN measured by photoluminescence journal October 2007
Droop in InGaN light-emitting diodes: A differential carrier lifetime analysis journal March 2010
Evaluation of radiative efficiency in InGaN blue-violet laser-diode structures using electroluminescence characteristics journal October 2006
Light-Emitting Diodes book January 2006
Internal quantum efficiency and nonradiative recombination coefficient of GaInN/GaN multiple quantum wells with different dislocation densities journal March 2009
Rate equation analysis of efficiency droop in InGaN light-emitting diodes journal August 2009
On the importance of radiative and Auger losses in GaN-based quantum wells journal June 2008
Density-activated defect recombination as a possible explanation for the efficiency droop in GaN-based diodes journal May 2010
Density-activated defect recombination as a possible explanation for the efficiency droop in GaN-based diodes conference February 2011
Internal Quantum Efficiency and Non-radiative Recombination Coefficient of GaInN/GaN Multiple Quantum Wells with Different Dislocation Densities conference January 2009

Cited By (31)

Efficiency droop in light-emitting diodes: Challenges and countermeasures: Efficiency droop in light-emitting diodes: Challenges and countermeasures journal January 2013
Comparison between blue lasers and light-emitting diodes for future solid-state lighting Comparison between blue lasers and light-emitting diodes journal August 2013
The efficiency challenge of nitride light-emitting diodes for lighting: The efficiency challenge of nitride LEDs for lighting journal March 2015
Auger carrier leakage in III-nitride quantum-well light emitting diodes journal October 2012
On the temperature dependence of electron leakage from the active region of GaInN/GaN light-emitting diodes journal July 2011
Efficiency droop behaviors of the blue LEDs on patterned sapphire substrate journal October 2011
Numerical analysis of indirect Auger transitions in InGaN journal July 2012
Modulation bandwidth studies of recombination processes in blue and green InGaN quantum well micro-light-emitting diodes journal March 2013
Temperature-dependent efficiency droop of blue InGaN micro-light emitting diodes journal October 2014
On the uncertainty of the Auger recombination coefficient extracted from InGaN/GaN light-emitting diode efficiency droop measurements journal March 2015
Temperature-dependent recombination coefficients in InGaN light-emitting diodes: Hole localization, Auger processes, and the green gap journal October 2016
Differential carrier lifetime in InGaN-based light-emitting diodes obtained by small-signal frequency-domain measurements journal January 2017
The ABC model of recombination reinterpreted: Impact on understanding carrier transport and efficiency droop in InGaN/GaN light emitting diodes journal December 2017
On the relationship between electrical and electro-optical characteristics of InAs/InP quantum dot lasers journal August 2018
Impact of superlinear defect-related recombination on LED performance at low injection journal May 2019
Evidence of trap-assisted Auger recombination in low radiative efficiency MBE-grown III-nitride LEDs journal November 2019
Ultra-wide-bandgap AlGaN homojunction tunnel diodes with negative differential resistance journal August 2019
Internal quantum efficiency measurements in InAs/GaSb superlattices for midinfrared emitters journal December 2019
Temperature-dependent nonradiative recombination processes in GaN-based nanowire white-light-emitting diodes on silicon journal April 2012
Time of carrier escape and recombination coefficients in InGaN quantum-well active regions of blue, cyan, and green light-emitting diodes journal November 2018
Temperature and carrier-density dependence of Auger and radiative recombination in nitride optoelectronic devices journal December 2013
Nanometer-scale monitoring of quantum-confined Stark effect and emission efficiency droop in multiple GaN/AlN quantum disks in nanowires journal May 2016
Review—Active Efficiency as a Key Parameter for Understanding the Efficiency Droop in InGaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes journal November 2019
Effect of electron blocking layer on the efficiency of AlGaN mid-ultraviolet light emitting diodes journal January 2019
High performance electron blocking layer-free InGaN/GaN nanowire white-light-emitting diodes journal January 2020
Full-color monolithic hybrid quantum dot nanoring micro light-emitting diodes with improved efficiency using atomic layer deposition and nonradiative resonant energy transfer journal January 2019
Measuring the internal quantum efficiency of light-emitting diodes: towards accurate and reliable room-temperature characterization journal September 2018
Effect of Die Shape and Size on Performance of III-Nitride Micro-LEDs: A Modeling Study journal October 2018
The ABC model of recombination reinterpreted: Impact on understanding carrier transport and efficiency droop in InGaN/GaN light emitting diodes text January 2017
Nanometre scale monitoring of the quantum confined stark effect and emission efficiency droop in multiple GaN/AlN quantum disks in nanowires text January 2016
A Review on Experimental Measurements for Understanding Efficiency Droop in InGaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes journal October 2017