Deep ultraviolet emission from ultra-thin GaN/AlN heterostructures

Bayerl, Dylan; Islam, SM; Jones, Christina M.; Protasenko, Vladimir; Jena, Debdeep; Kioupakis, Emmanouil

doi:10.1063/1.4971968

Deep ultraviolet emission from ultra-thin GaN/AlN heterostructures

Journal Article · Fri Dec 16 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4971968· OSTI ID:1497072

Bayerl, Dylan ^[1]; Islam, SM ^[2]; ^[1]; Protasenko, Vladimir ^[2]; Jena, Debdeep ^[2]; Kioupakis, Emmanouil ^[1]

Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)

We present the theoretical and experimental results for the electronic and optical properties of atomically thin (1 and 2 monolayers) GaN quantum wells with AlN barriers. Strong quantum confinement increases the gap of GaN to as high as 5.44 eV and enables light emission in the deep-UV range. Luminescence occurs from the heavy and light hole bands of GaN yielding E ⊥ c polarized light emission. Strong confinement also increases the exciton binding energy up to 230 meV, preventing a thermal dissociation of excitons at room temperature. However, we did not observe excitons experimentally due to high excited free-carrier concentrations. Monolayer-thick GaN wells also exhibit a large electron-hole wave function overlap and negligible Stark shift, which is expected to enhance the radiative recombination efficiency. Our results indicate that atomically thin GaN/AlN heterostructures are promising for efficient deep-UV optoelectronic devices.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1497072

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 24 Vol. 109; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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