Interwell carrier transport in InGaN/(In)GaN multiple quantum wells
Abstract
Uniform carrier distribution between quantum wells (QWs) of multiple QW light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes is important for the efficiency of device operation. In lasers, the uniform distribution ensures that all the QWs contribute to lasing; in LEDs, it enables high power operation with minimal Auger losses and a maximal efficiency. The carrier distribution between the QWs takes place via interwell (IW) transport. In polar GaN-based structures, the transport might be hindered by the strong carrier confinement and the internal electric fields. In this work, we study the IW transport in InGaN/(In)GaN multiple QW structures typical for ultraviolet-emitting devices with different well and barrier parameters. Experiments have been performed by means of time-resolved photoluminescence. We find that the IW transport rate is limited by the hole thermionic emission, which for InGaN/GaN QWs produces long transport times, ~1 ns per well, and a nonuniform IW carrier distribution. However, adding 5% In to the barriers completely changes the situation with the transport time decreasing by a factor of four and the hole thermionic emission energy from 200 meV to 70 meV. Finally, this study shows that using InGaN barriers is a promising pathway toward efficient high power InGaN LEDs.
- Authors:
-
- KTH Royal Inst. of Technology, Kista (Sweden)
- Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
- National Taiwan Univ., Taipei (Taiwan)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); Swedish Energy Agency
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1614094
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1507224
- Grant/Contract Number:
- EE0008204; 45390-1
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Applied Physics Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 114; Journal Issue: 15; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; Physics; Semiconductors; Thermionic emission; Time-resolved photoluminescence; Quantum wells; Lasers; Transport properties; Photoexcitations; Activation energies; Light emitting diodes; Nitrides
Citation Formats
Marcinkevičius, Saulius, Yapparov, Rinat, Kuritzky, Leah Y., Wu, Yuh-Renn, Nakamura, Shuji, DenBaars, Steven P., and Speck, James S. Interwell carrier transport in InGaN/(In)GaN multiple quantum wells. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1063/1.5092585.
Marcinkevičius, Saulius, Yapparov, Rinat, Kuritzky, Leah Y., Wu, Yuh-Renn, Nakamura, Shuji, DenBaars, Steven P., & Speck, James S. Interwell carrier transport in InGaN/(In)GaN multiple quantum wells. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5092585
Marcinkevičius, Saulius, Yapparov, Rinat, Kuritzky, Leah Y., Wu, Yuh-Renn, Nakamura, Shuji, DenBaars, Steven P., and Speck, James S. Tue .
"Interwell carrier transport in InGaN/(In)GaN multiple quantum wells". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5092585. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1614094.
@article{osti_1614094,
title = {Interwell carrier transport in InGaN/(In)GaN multiple quantum wells},
author = {Marcinkevičius, Saulius and Yapparov, Rinat and Kuritzky, Leah Y. and Wu, Yuh-Renn and Nakamura, Shuji and DenBaars, Steven P. and Speck, James S.},
abstractNote = {Uniform carrier distribution between quantum wells (QWs) of multiple QW light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes is important for the efficiency of device operation. In lasers, the uniform distribution ensures that all the QWs contribute to lasing; in LEDs, it enables high power operation with minimal Auger losses and a maximal efficiency. The carrier distribution between the QWs takes place via interwell (IW) transport. In polar GaN-based structures, the transport might be hindered by the strong carrier confinement and the internal electric fields. In this work, we study the IW transport in InGaN/(In)GaN multiple QW structures typical for ultraviolet-emitting devices with different well and barrier parameters. Experiments have been performed by means of time-resolved photoluminescence. We find that the IW transport rate is limited by the hole thermionic emission, which for InGaN/GaN QWs produces long transport times, ~1 ns per well, and a nonuniform IW carrier distribution. However, adding 5% In to the barriers completely changes the situation with the transport time decreasing by a factor of four and the hole thermionic emission energy from 200 meV to 70 meV. Finally, this study shows that using InGaN barriers is a promising pathway toward efficient high power InGaN LEDs.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5092585},
journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
number = 15,
volume = 114,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Apr 16 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Tue Apr 16 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
Web of Science
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Works referencing / citing this record:
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