Thermal annealing of InGaN/GaN strained-layer quantum well

Quantum well (QW) material engineering has attracted a considerable amount of interest from many people because of its ability to produce a number of optoelectronic devices. QW composition intermixing is a thermal induced interdiffusion of the constituent atoms through the hetero-interface. The intermixing process is an attractive way to achieve the modification of the QW band structure. It is known that the band structure is a fundamental determinant for such electronic and optical properties of materials as the optical gain, the refractive index and the absorption. During the process, the as-grown square-QW compositional profile is modified to a graded profile, thereby altering the confinement profile and the subband structure in the QW. The blue-shifting of the wavelength in the intermixed QW structure is found in this process. In recent years, III-nitride semiconductors have attracted much attention. This is mainly due to their large bandgap range from 1.89eV (wurtzite InN) to 3.44eV (wurtzite GaN). InGaN/GaN quantum well structures have been used to achieve high lumens blue and green light emitting diodes. Such structures also facilitate the production of full colour LED displays by complementing the colour spectrum of available LEDs. In this paper, the effects of thermal annealing on the strained-layer InGaN/GaN QW will be presented. The effects of intermixing on the confinement potential of InGaN/GaN QWs have been theoretically analysed, with sublattices interdiffusion as the basis. This process is described by Fick's law, with constant diffusion coefficients in both the well and the barrier layers. The diffusion coefficients depend on the annealing temperature, time and the activation energy of constituent atoms. The optical properties of intermixed InGaN/GaN QW structure of different interdiffusion rates have been theoretically analyzed for applications of novel optical devices. The photoluminescence studies and the intermixed QW modeling have been used to understand the effects of intermixing.published_or_final_versio

Growth of thick (11(2)over-bar0) GaN using a metal interlayer

Thick films of (11 (2) over bar0)-oriented GaN have been grown on Ti-coated metal organic chemical vapor deposition templates using hydride vapor phase epitaxy. Significant reductions in crack density were observed enabling 240 mum thick films to be grown on sapphire. The use of Ti interlayers was shown to generate significant fractions of voids at the interlayer regrowth interface facilitating void-assisted separation on cooling. Ti metal layers annealed under optimal conditions were found to produce a TiN nanomask suitable for lateral overgrowth during HVPE. An estimate of the void size required to allow spontaneous delamination of the substrate at the TiN-GaN interface is discussed with reference to growth conditions. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics

Improved quality (11(2)over-bar-0) a-plane GaN with sidewall lateral epitaxial overgrowth

We demonstrate a technique to reduce the extended defect densities in a-plane GaN deposited on r-plane sapphire. The SiO2 lateral epitaxial overgrowth mask consisted of (GaN) stripes. Both the mask and GaN were etched through the mask openings and the lateral growth was initiated from the etched c-plane GaN sidewalls, and the material was grown over the mask regions until a smooth coalesced film was achieved. Threading dislocation densities in the range of 10(6)-10(7) cm(-2) were realized throughout the film surface. The on-axis and off-axis full width at half maximum value and surface roughness were 0.082 degrees, 0.114 degrees, and 0.622 nm, respectively. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics

Influence of Si-doping on carrier localization of MOCVD-grown InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells

We have systematically studied the influence of Si doping on the optical characteristics of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) using photoluminescence (PL), PL excitation (PLE), and time-resolved PL spectroscopy combined with studies of optically pumped stimulated emission and structural properties from these materials. The MQWs were grown on 1.8-mu m-thick GaN layers on c-plane sapphire films by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The structures consisted of 12 MQWs with 3-nm-thick InGaN wells, 4.5-nm-thick GaN barriers, and a 0.1-mu m-thick Al0.07Ca0.93N capping layer. The Si doping level in the GaN barriers was varied from 1 x 10(17) to 3 x 10(19) cm(-3). PL and PLE measurements show a decrease in the Stokes shift with increasing Si doping concentration. The 10 K radiative recombination lifetime was observed to decrease with increasing Si doping concentration (n), from similar to 30 ns (for n < 1 x 10(17) cm(-3)) to similar to 4 ns (for n = 3 x 10(19) cm(-3)). To elucidate whether non-radiative recombination processes affect the measured lifetime, the temperature-dependence of the measured lifetime was investigated. The reduced Stokes shift, the decrease in radiative recombination lifetime, and the increase in structural and interface quality with increasing Si doping indicate that the incorporation of Si in the GaN barriers results in a decrease in carrier localization at potential fluctuations in the InGaN active regions and the interfaces.

Carrier dynamics of abnormal temperature-dependent emission shift in MOCVD-grown InGaN epilayers and InGaN/GaN quantum wells

Temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) studies have been performed on InGaN epilayers and InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. We observed anomalous temperature dependent emission behavior (specifically an S-shaped decrease-increase-decrease) of the peak energy (E(PL)) Of the InGaN-related PL emission with increasing temperature. In the case of the InGaN epilayer, E(PL) decreases in the temperature range of 10 - 50 K, increases for 50 - 110 K, and decreases again for 110 - 300 K with increasing temperature. For the InGaN/GaN MQWs, E(PL), decreases from 10 -70 K, increases from 70-150 K, then decreases again for 150-300 K. The actual temperature dependence of the PL emission was estimated with respect to the bandgap energy determined by photoreflectance spectra. We observed that the PL peak emission shift has an excellent correlation with a change in carrier lifetime with temperature. We demonstrate that the temperature-induced S-shaped PL shift is caused by the change in carrier recombination dynamics with increasing temperature due to inhomogeneities in the InGaN structures.