Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-tn8tq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-30T21:51:46.427Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Emission Mechanisms in UV Emitting GaN/AlN Multiple Quantum Well Structures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Madalina Furis ,
Alexander N. Cartwright ,
Hong Wu  and
William J. Schaff
Madalina Furis
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA
Alexander N. Cartwright
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA
Hong Wu
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
William J. Schaff
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
Get access

Abstract

The need for efficient UV emitting semiconductor sources has prompted the study of a number of heterostructures of III-N materials. In this work, the temperature dependence of the photoluminescence (PL) properties of UV-emitting GaN/AlN multiple quantum well (MQW) heterostructures were investigated in detail. In all samples studied, the structure consisted of 20 GaN quantum wells, with well widths varying between 7 and 15 Å, clad by 6nm AlN barriers, grown on top of a thick AlN buffer that was deposited on sapphire by molecular beam epitaxy. The observed energy corresponding to the peak of the emission spectrum is in agreement with a model that includes the strong confinement present in these structures and the existence of the large built-in piezoelectric field and spontaneous polarization present inside the wells. The observed emission varies from 3.5 eV (15 Å well) to 4.4 eV (7 Å well). Two activation energies associated with the photoluminescence quenching are extracted from the temperature dependence of the time-integrated PL intensity. These activation energies are consistent with donor and acceptor binding energies and the PL is dominated by recombination involving carriers localized on donor and/or acceptor states.

Moreover, the temperature dependence of the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the PL feature indicates that inhomogeneous broadening dominates the spectrum at all temperatures. For the 15 and 13 Å wells, we estimate that the electron-phonon interaction is responsible for less than 30% of the broadening at room temperature. This broadening is negligible in the 9 Å wells over the entire temperature range studied. Well width fluctuations are primarily responsible for the inhomogeneous broadening, estimated to be of the order of 250meV for one monolayer fluctuation in well width.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 798: Symposium Y – GaN and Related Alloys , 2003 , Y10.5
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Wu, H., Schaff, W. J., Koley, G., Furis, M., Cartwright, A. N., Mkhoyan, K. A., Silcox, J., Henderson, W., Doolittle, W. A., and Fall, A.V. MRS 2002. Osinsky, Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 743, art. no. L.6.2.1 (2003).Google Scholar
2. Furis, M., Chen, F., Cartwright, A. N., Wu, H., and Schaff, W. J., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 743, art. no. L11.14 (2002).Google Scholar
3. Furis, M., Cartwright, A. N., Wu, H., and Schaff, W. J., Appl. Phys. Lett. 83 (17), 3486 (2003).Google Scholar
4. Grandjean, N., Massies, J., and Leroux, M., Appl. Phys. Lett. 74 (16), 2361 (1999).Google Scholar
5. Lefebvre, P., Allegre, J., Gil, B., Mathieu, H., Grandjean, N., Leroux, M., Massies, J., and Bigenwald, P., Phys Rev B 59 (23), 15363 (1999).Google Scholar
6. Gammon, D., Rudin, S., Reinecke, T. L., Katzer, D. S., and Kyono, C. S., Phys Rev B 51 (23), 16785 (1995).Google Scholar
7. Sugawara, M., Fujii, T., Kondo, M., Kato, K., Domen, K., Yamazaki, S., and Nakajima, K., Appl. Phys. Lett. 53 (23), 2290 (1988).Google Scholar
8. Zhang, X. N., Shiraki, Y., Yaguchi, H., Onabe, K., and Ito, R., J Vac Sci Technol B 12 (4), 2293 (1994).Google Scholar
9. Tsen, K. T., Ferry, D. K., Botchkarev, A., Sverdlov, B., Salvador, A., and Morkoc, H., Appl. Phys. Lett. 71 (13), 1852 (1997).Google Scholar
10. Lee, B. C., Kim, K. W., Dutta, M., and Stroscio, M. A., Phys Rev B 56 (3), 997 (1997).Google Scholar
11. Viswanath, A. K., Lee, J. I., Kim, D., Lee, C. R., and Leem, J. Y., Phys Rev B 58 (24), 16333 (1998).Google Scholar
12. Grandjean, N. and Massies, J., Appl. Phys. Lett. 71 (13), 1816 (1997).Google Scholar
13. Kim, C., Robinson, I. K., Myoung, J., Shim, K. H., and Kim, K., J. Appl. Phys. 85 (8), 4040 (1999).Google Scholar