A. T. M. Golam Sarwar

Tunnel junction enhanced nanowire ultraviolet light emitting diodes

Polarization engineered interband tunnel junctions (TJs) are integrated in nanowire ultraviolet (UV) light emitting diodes (LEDs). A ∼6 V reduction in turn-on voltage is achieved by the integration of tunnel junction at the base of polarization doped nanowire UV LEDs. Moreover, efficient hole injection into the nanowire LEDs leads to suppressed efficiency droop in TJ integrated nanowire LEDs. The combination of both reduced bias voltage and increased hole injection increases the wall plug efficiency in these devices. More than 100 μW of UV emission at ∼310 nm is measured with external quantum efficiency in the range of 4–6 m%. The realization of tunnel junction within the nanowire LEDs opens a pathway towards the monolithic integration of cascaded multi-junction nanowire LEDs on silicon.

Nanowire LEDs grown directly on flexible metal foil

Using molecular beam epitaxy, self-assembled AlGaN nanowires are grown directly on Ta and Ti foils. Scanning electron microscopy shows that the nanowires are locally textured with the underlying metallic grains. Photoluminescence spectra of GaN nanowires grown on metal foils are comparable to GaN nanowires grown on single crystal Si wafers. Similarly, photoluminescence lifetimes do not vary significantly between these samples. Operational AlGaN light emitting diodes are grown directly on flexible Ta foil with an electroluminescence peak emission of ∼350 nm and a turn-on voltage of ∼5 V. These results pave the way for roll-to-roll manufacturing of solid state optoelectronics.

Exploiting piezoelectric charge for high performance graded InGaN nanowire solar cells

The effect of piezoelectric charge on the performance of p-GaN/n-InGaN abrupt and graded heterojunction nanowire solar cells is investigated by numerical simulation. In abrupt junctions, piezoelectric charge increases the energy barrier height for hole transport into GaN, resulting in poor overall efficiency. Incorporation of a linearly graded junction improves the performance by removing the valence band barrier. Grading distributes the strain field over a wider region than in an abrupt junction. Both spontaneous and piezoelectric charge boost the efficiency by generating polarization-induced p-type conductivity. A maximum overall efficiency of ∼21% is predicted considering the effect of polarization charge.

Optical Control of Internal Electric Fields in Band Gap-Graded InGaN Nanowires

InGaN nanowires are suitable building blocks for many future optoelectronic devices. We show that a linear grading of the indium content along the nanowire axis from GaN to InN introduces an internal electric field evoking a photocurrent. Consistent with quantitative band structure simulations we observe a sign change in the measured photocurrent as a function of photon flux. This negative differential photocurrent opens the path to a new type of nanowire-based photodetector. We demonstrate that the photocurrent response of the nanowires is as fast as 1.5 ps.

Tuning the polarization-induced free hole density in nanowires graded from GaN to AlN

We report a systematic study of p-type polarization-induced doping in graded AlGaN nanowire light emitting diodes grown on silicon wafers by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The composition gradient in the p-type base is varied in a set of samples from 0.7%Al/nm to 4.95%Al/nm corresponding to negative bound polarization charge densities of 2.2 × 1018 cm−3 to 1.6 × 1019 cm−3. Capacitance measurements and energy band modeling reveal that for gradients greater than or equal to 1.30%Al/nm, the deep donor concentration is negligible and free hole concentrations roughly equal to the bound polarization charge density are achieved up to 1.6 × 1019 cm−3 at a gradient of 4.95%Al/nm. Accurate grading lengths in the p- and n-side of the pn-junction are extracted from scanning transmission electron microscopy images and are used to support energy band calculation and capacitance modeling. These results demonstrate the robust nature of p-type polarization doping in nanowires and put an upper bound on the magnitu...

Molecular Beam Epitaxy of Graded-Composition InGaN Nanowires

We report the growth of graded InGaN nanowires by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Wire composition is linearly graded from InN to GaN along the length of each wire. The large lattice mismatch between GaN and InN (11%) introduces tensile strain in the graded region, which results in cracking of the wires. Growing with reverse grading (i.e., GaN to InN) results in crack-free nanowires. The composition is measured by energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy of individual nanowires performed in a scanning transmission electron microscope, and strain is measured by high-resolution x-ray diffraction.

Graded nanowire ultraviolet LEDs by polarization engineering

Given the large thermal activation energy of acceptors in high %Al AlGaN, a new approach is needed to control p-type conductivity in this material. One promising alternative to using impurity doping with thermal activation is using the intrinsic characteristics of the III-nitrides to activate dopants with polarization-induced charge in graded heterostructures. In this work polarization-induced activation of dopants is used in graded AlGaN nanowires grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy to form ultraviolet light-emitting diodes. Electrical and optical characterization is provided, showing clear diode behavior and electroluminescent emission at 336nm. Variable temperature electrical measurements show little change in device performance at cryogenic temperatures, proving that dopant ionization is polarizationinduced rather than thermally activated.