J. Jurkevičius

Stimulated emission in AlGaN/AlGaN quantum wells with different Al content

Stimulated emission (SE) is studied in AlGaN/AlGaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with different Al content grown on sapphire substrate. The spectra of spontaneous and stimulated emission and their transformations with increasing temperature as well as stimulated emission thresholds were measured in the temperature range from 8 to 300 K. Phonon-assisted band broadening in low-Al-content MQWs and double-scaled potential profile in high-Al-content MQWs were observed in the samples and linked with carrier localization conditions. The temperature dependence of the stimulated emission threshold was similar in the samples where the stimulated transitions occur between extended states and in the samples where the transitions occur in localized states. The stimulated emission threshold depends predominantly on the density of nonradiative recombination centers.

Photoluminescence efficiency droop and stimulated recombination in GaN epilayers.

The photoluminescence droop effect, i.e., the decrease in emission efficiency with increasing excitation intensity, is observed and studied in GaN epilayers with different carrier lifetimes. Spontaneous and stimulated emissions have been studied in the front-face and edge emission configurations. The onset of stimulated recombination occurs simultaneously with the droop onset in the front-face configuration and might be considered as an origin of the droop effect in GaN epilayers.

Influence of carrier localization on high-carrier-density effects in AlGaN quantum wells

The influence of carrier localization on photoluminescence efficiency droop and stimulated emission is studied in AlGaN multiple quantum wells with different strength of carrier localization. We observe that carrier delocalization at low temperatures predominantly enhances the nonradiative recombination and causes the droop, while the main effect of the delocalization at elevated temperatures is enhancement of PL efficiency due to increasing contribution of bimolecular recombination of free carriers. When the carrier thermal energy exceeds the dispersion of the potential fluctuations causing the carrier localization, the droop is caused by stimulated carrier recombination.

Stimulated emission due to localized and delocalized carriers in Al0.35Ga0.65N/Al0.49Ga0.51N quantum wells

The effect of carrier localization on stimulated emission (SE) in Al0.35Ga0.65N/Al0.49Ga0.51N quantum wells (QWs) on sapphire substrate was studied under photoexcitation in the edge emission configuration in the temperature range from 8 K to 300 K. The band potential profile responsible for carrier localization was modulated by the variation of QW width and monitored using fitting the experimental temperature dependence of the spontaneous luminescence band width to that obtained by the Monte Carlo simulation of exciton hopping. A faster increase of SE threshold with increasing temperature was observed in narrow QWs and was attributed to deeper carrier localization due to the modulation of quantum confinement energy by well width fluctuations. Meanwhile, delocalized carriers were shown to contribute to the filling of states at the mobility edge, where SE occurs. These results imply that the deep ultraviolet AlGaN/AlGaN laser structures can be optimized in terms of carrier localization effect through the selection of appropriate QW width.The effect of carrier localization on stimulated emission (SE) in Al0.35Ga0.65N/Al0.49Ga0.51N quantum wells (QWs) on sapphire substrate was studied under photoexcitation in the edge emission configuration in the temperature range from 8 K to 300 K. The band potential profile responsible for carrier localization was modulated by the variation of QW width and monitored using fitting the experimental temperature dependence of the spontaneous luminescence band width to that obtained by the Monte Carlo simulation of exciton hopping. A faster increase of SE threshold with increasing temperature was observed in narrow QWs and was attributed to deeper carrier localization due to the modulation of quantum confinement energy by well width fluctuations. Meanwhile, delocalized carriers were shown to contribute to the filling of states at the mobility edge, where SE occurs. These results imply that the deep ultraviolet AlGaN/AlGaN laser structures can be optimized in terms of carrier localization effect through the se...

Optical and structural properties of BGaN layers grown on different substrates

Growth of BGaN epitaxial layers by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using triethylboron (TEB) as a boron source was studied on 6H-SiC substrate and on GaN and AlN templates on sapphire. X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy were exploited to characterize the structural quality, surface morphology, luminescence efficiency, and boron content. Silicon carbide was shown to be slightly superior to AlN/sapphire and considerably better than GaN/sapphire as the most favorable substrate to incorporate a possibly higher boron content. Increasing TEB flow rate at correspondingly optimized growth temperature and V/III ratio enabled us to achieve the boron content of up to 5.5%, though at the expense of structural quality. We showed that the band gap bowing parameter is similar for the epilayers deposited on all the three templates/substrates under study and is approximately equal to 4 eV, substantially lower than reported before.

Low-temperature redistribution of non-thermalized carriers and its effect on efficiency droop in AlGaN epilayers

The carrier dynamics in AlGaN epilayers with different degrees of carrier localization were studied using low-temperature photoluminescence spectroscopy at different excitations. We observed a nonmonotonous band peak energy shift with increasing excitation, which is attributed to carrier-density-dependent carrier redistribution within localized states. The carrier redistribution enhances the carrier mobility and increases the nonradiative recombination rate resulting in efficiency droop. These results indicate the significant role of nonradiative recombination even at low temperatures and low carrier densities, despite strong carrier localization. The obtained results are consistent with the excitonic-type nonradiative recombination.

Dependence of radiative and nonradiative recombination on carrier density and Al content in thick AlGaN epilayers

Dynamics of radiative and nonradiative recombination of non-equilibrium carriers is investigated in thick AlGaN epitaxial layers with Al content ranging from 0.11 to 0.71. The internal quantum efficiency (IQE) in the epilayers was obtained using two approaches: either estimated from PL measurements or calculated using the recombination coefficients of a simple ABC model, retrieved by fitting the kinetics of light induced transient gratings (LITG). At photoexcited carrier densities below ~1019 cm−3, both approaches provided similar IQE values indicating that the simple ABC model is applicable to analyze carrier recombination at such carrier densities. The increase in IQE at higher carrier densities slowed down for the values extracted from PL considerably faster than for those obtained from LITG transients. This discrepancy is explained in terms of the mixed nature of the rate coefficient B caused by the onset of the density-activated nonradiative recombination at high carrier densities.

Temperature-dependent efficiency droop in AlGaN epitaxial layers and quantum wells

Luminescence efficiency droop has been studied in AlGaN epitaxial layers and multiple quantum wells(MQWs) with different strength of carrier localization in a wide range of temperatures. It is shown that the dominant mechanism leading to droop, i.e., the efficiency reduction at high carrier densities, is determined by the carrier thermalization conditions and the ratio between carrier thermal energy and localization depth. The droop mechanisms, such as the occupation-enhanced redistribution of nonthermalized carriers, the enhancement of nonradiative recombination due to carrier delocalization, and excitation-enhanced carrier transport to extended defects or stimulated emission, are discussed.