Origin of electrons emitted into vacuum from InGaN light emitting diodes

Iveland, Justin; Young, Nathan; Speck, James S.; Piccardo, Marco; Weisbuch, Claude; Martinelli, Lucio; Peretti, Jacques; Choi, Joo Won; Nakamura, Shuji

doi:10.1063/1.4892473

Title: Origin of electrons emitted into vacuum from InGaN light emitting diodes

Journal Article · Mon Aug 04 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4892473· OSTI ID:22314487

Iveland, Justin; Young, Nathan; Speck, James S. ^[1]; Piccardo, Marco; Weisbuch, Claude ^[1]; Martinelli, Lucio; Peretti, Jacques ^[2]; Choi, Joo Won ^[3]; Nakamura, Shuji ^[1]

Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106-5050 (United States)
Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée, CNRS-Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex (France)
Seoul Viosys Co., Ltd., 1-36 727, Won-Si Dong, Danwon-Gu, Ansan City, Kyunggi-do 425-851 (Korea, Republic of)

The mechanism responsible for efficiency droop in InGaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) has long been elusive due to indirect measurement techniques used for its identification. Auger recombination is unique among proposed efficiency droop mechanisms, in that it is the only mechanism capable of generating hot carriers. In a previous study [J. Iveland et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 177406 (2013)], we performed electron energy analysis of electrons emitted into vacuum from a forward biased InGaN LED that had been brought into negative electron affinity by cesiation. Three peaks were observed in the energy spectrum of vacuum emitted electrons. In this Letter, we unambiguously identify the origin of the peaks. The two higher energy peaks correspond to accumulation of electrons transported to the surface in the bulk Γ and side L conduction band valleys. The L-valley peak is a direct signature of a hot Auger electron population. The lower energy peak results from surface photoemission induced by the internal LED light emitted from the InGaN quantum wells. Two control experiments were performed. In the first, a simple GaN pn junction generated only a single Γ peak in electroemission. In the second, selective detection of the photoemission from an LED under modulated light excitation and DC electrical injection confirms that only the low energy peak is photogenerated and that LED light is incapable of generating Γ or L-valley peaks, the latter only occurring due to the Auger effect in the LED active region.

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OSTI ID:: 22314487

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Temperature-dependent efficiency droop of blue InGaN micro-light emitting diodes Tian, Pengfei; McKendry, Jonathan J. D.; Herrnsdorf, Johannes Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4900865	journal	October 2014
Looking for Auger signatures in III-nitride light emitters: A full-band Monte Carlo perspective Bertazzi, Francesco; Goano, Michele; Zhou, Xiangyu Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4908154	journal	February 2015
Identification of low-energy peaks in electron emission spectroscopy of InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes Myers, Daniel J.; Gelžinytė, Kristina; Ho, Wan Ying Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 124, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5030208	journal	August 2018
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Direct measurement of hot-carrier generation in a semiconductor barrier heterostructure: Identification of the dominant mechanism for thermal droop Myers, Daniel J.; Gelžinytė, Kristina; Alhassan, Abdullah I. Physical Review B, Vol. 100, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.100.125303	journal	September 2019
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A Review on Experimental Measurements for Understanding Efficiency Droop in InGaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes Wang, Lai; Jin, Jie; Mi, Chenziyi Materials, Vol. 10, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.3390/ma10111233	journal	October 2017

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