Looking for Auger signatures in III-nitride light emitters: A full-band Monte Carlo perspective
- Dipartimento di Elettronica e Telecomunicazioni, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino (Italy)
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, 8 Saint Mary's Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215 (United States)
Recent experiments of electron emission spectroscopy (EES) on III-nitride light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have shown a correlation between droop onset and hot electron emission at the cesiated surface of the LED p-cap. The observed hot electrons have been interpreted as a direct signature of Auger recombination in the LED active region, as highly energetic Auger-excited electrons would be collected in long-lived satellite valleys of the conduction band so that they would not decay on their journey to the surface across the highly doped p-contact layer. We discuss this interpretation by using a full-band Monte Carlo model based on first-principles electronic structure and lattice dynamics calculations. The results of our analysis suggest that Auger-excited electrons cannot be unambiguously detected in the LED structures used in the EES experiments. Additional experimental and simulative work are necessary to unravel the complex physics of GaN cesiated surfaces.
- OSTI ID:
- 22412591
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 6; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Origin of electrons emitted into vacuum from InGaN light emitting diodes
Origin of electrons emitted into vacuum from InGaN light emitting diodes