Morteza Monavarian

Determination of carrier diffusion length in GaN

Diffusion lengths of photo-excited carriers along the c-direction were determined from photoluminescence (PL) and cross-sectional cathodoluminescence (CL) measurements in p- and n-type GaN epitaxial layers grown on c-plane sapphire by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. The investigated samples incorporate a 6 nm thick In0.15Ga0.85N active layer capped with either 500 nm p-GaN or 1500 nm n-GaN. The top GaN layers were etched in steps and PL from the InGaN active region and the underlying layers was monitored as a function of the top GaN thickness upon photo-generation near the surface region by above bandgap excitation. Taking into consideration the absorption in the top GaN layer as well as active and underlying layers, the diffusion lengths at 295 K and at 15 K were measured to be 93 ± 7 nm and 70 ± 7 nm for Mg-doped p-type GaN and 432 ± 30 nm and 316 ± 30 nm for unintentionally doped n-type GaN, respectively, at photogenerated carrier densities of 4.2 × 1018 cm−3 using PL spectroscopy. CL measurem...

Excitonic recombination dynamics in non-polar GaN/AlGaN quantum wells

The optical properties of GaN/Al0.15Ga0.85N multiple quantum wells are examined in 8 K–300 K temperature range. Both polarized CW and time resolved temperature-dependent photoluminescence experiment are performed so that we can deduce the relative contributions of the non-radiative and radiative recombination processes. From the calculation of the proportion of the excitonic population having wave vector in the light cone, we can deduce the variation of the radiative decay time with temperature. We find part of the excitonic population to be localized in concert with the report of Corfdir et al. (Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Part 2 52, 08JC01 (2013)) in case of a-plane quantum wells.

Improvement of carrier injection symmetry and quantum efficiency in InGaN light-emitting diodes with Mg delta-doped barriers

The effect of δ-doping of In0.06Ga0.94N barriers with Mg on the quantum efficiency of blue light-emitting-diodes (LEDs) with active regions composed of 6 (hex) 3-nm In0.15Ga0.85N is investigated. Compared to the reference sample, δ-doping of the first barrier on the n-side of the LED structure improves the peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) by 20%, owing to the increased hole concentration in the wells adjacent to the n-side, as confirmed by numerical simulations of carrier distributions across the active region. Doping the second barrier, in addition to the first one, did not further enhance the EQE, which likely indicates compensation of improved hole injection by degradation of the active region quality due to Mg doping. Both LEDs with Mg δ-doped barriers effectively suppress the drop of efficiency at high injection when compared to the reference sample, and the onset of EQE peak roll-off shifts from ∼80 A/cm2 in the reference LED to ∼120 A/cm2 in the LEDs with Mg δ-doped barriers.

High-Speed Nonpolar InGaN/GaN LEDs for Visible-Light Communication

Free-standing nonpolar GaN substrates provide an excellent platform for the fabrication of high-speed blue and green light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which are attractive for visible-light communication, plastic optical fiber communication, and short-range under water optical communication. Nonpolar LEDs on free-standing GaN exhibit a large electron-hole wave function overlap, low extended defect density, and favorable thermal properties. Here, we demonstrate high-speed nonpolar InGaN/GaN LEDs with a peak emission wavelength between 455 and 465 nm on free-standing nonpolar GaN substrates. A large frequency modulation bandwidth of 524 MHz is demonstrated at a current density of 10 kA/cm 2 .

Recombination dynamics of excitons with low non-radiative component in semi-polar (10-11)-oriented GaN/AlGaN multiple quantum wells

Optical properties of GaN/Al0.2Ga0.8N multiple quantum wells grown with semi-polar (10-11) orientation on patterned 7°-off Si (001) substrates have been investigated. Studies performed at 8 K reveal the in-plane anisotropic behavior of the QW photoluminescence (PL) intensity for this semi-polar orientation. The time resolved PL measurements were carried out in the temperature range from 8 to 295 K to deduce the effective recombination decay times, with respective radiative and non-radiative contributions. The non-radiative component remains relatively weak with increasing temperature, indicative of high crystalline quality. The radiative decay time is a consequence of contribution from both localized and free excitons. We report an effective density of interfacial defects of 2.3 × 1012 cm−2 and a radiative recombination time of τloc = 355 ps for the localized excitons. This latter value is significantly larger than those reported for the non-polar structures, which we attribute to the presence of a weak r...

Thermal quenching of the yellow luminescence in GaN

We observed varying thermal quenching behavior of the yellow luminescence band near 2.2 eV in different GaN samples. In spite of the different behavior, the yellow band in all the samples is caused by the same defect—the YL1 center. In conductive n-type GaN, the YL1 band quenches with exponential law, and the Arrhenius plot reveals an ionization energy of ∼0.9 eV for the YL1 center. In semi-insulating GaN, an abrupt and tunable quenching of the YL1 band is observed, where the apparent activation energy in the Arrhenius plot is not related to the ionization energy of the defect. In this case, the ionization energy can be found by analyzing the shift of the characteristic temperature of PL quenching with excitation intensity. We conclude that only one defect, namely, the YL1 center, is responsible for the yellow band in undoped and doped GaN samples grown by different techniques.

Exciton localization in (11-22)-oriented semi-polar InGaN multiple quantum wells

Excitonic recombination dynamics in (11-22) -oriented semipolar In0.2Ga0.8N/In0.06Ga0.94N multiquantum wells (MQWs) grown on GaN/m-sapphire templates have been investigated by temperature-dependent time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL). The radiative and nonradiative recombination contributions to the PL intensity at different temperatures were evaluated by analysing temperature dependences of PL peak intensity and decay times. The obtained data indicate the existence of exciton localization with a localization energy of Eloc(15K) =7meV and delocalization temperature of Tdeloc = 200K in the semipolar InGaN MQWs. Presence of such exciton localization in semipolar (11-22) -oriented structures could lead to improvement of excitonic emission and internal quantum efficiency.

Improvement of optical quality of semipolar (112¯2) GaN on m-plane sapphire by in-situ epitaxial lateral overgrowth

Among the major obstacles for development of non-polar and semipolar GaN structures on foreign substrates are stacking faults which deteriorate the structural and optical quality of the material. In this work, an in-situ SiNx nano-network has been employed to achieve high quality heteroepitaxial semipolar (112¯2) GaN on m-plane sapphire with reduced stacking fault density. This approach involves in-situ deposition of a porous SiNx interlayer on GaN that serves as a nano-mask for the subsequent growth, which starts in the nanometer-sized pores (window regions) and then progresses laterally as well, as in the case of conventional epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO). The inserted SiNx nano-mask effectively prevents the propagation of defects, such as dislocations and stacking faults, in the growth direction and thus reduces their density in the overgrown layers. The resulting semipolar (112¯2) GaN layers exhibit relatively smooth surface morphology and improved optical properties (PL intensity enhanced by a f...

Indium-incorporation efficiency in semipolar (11-22) oriented InGaN-based light emitting diodes

Reduced electric field in semipolar (1122) GaN/InGaN heterostructures makes this orientation attractive for high efficiency light emitting diodes. In this work, we investigated indium incorporation in semipolar (1122) GaN grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on planar m-plane sapphire substrates. Indium content in the semipolar material was compared with that in polar c-plane samples grown under the same conditions simultaneously side by side on the same holder. The investigated samples incorporated dual GaN/InGaN/GaN double heterostructures with 3nm wide wells. In order to improve optical quality, both polar and semipolar templates were grown using an in-situ epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) technique. Indium incorporation efficiency was derived from the comparison of PL spectra measured on the semipolar and polar structures at the highest excitation density, which allowed us to minimize the effect of quantum confined Stark effect on the emission wavelength. Our data suggests increased indium content in the semipolar material by up to 3.0%, from 15% In in c- GaN to 18% In in (1122) GaN.

Enhancement of indium incorporation to InGaN MQWs on AlN/GaN periodic multilayers

The effect of compressive strain in buffer layer on strain relaxation and indium incorporation in InGaN multi-quantum wells (MQWs) is studied for two sets of samples grown side by side on both relaxed GaN layers and strained 10-pairs of AlN/GaN periodic multilayers. The 14-nm AlN layers were utilized in both multilayers, while GaN thickness was 4.5 and 2.5 nm in the first and the second set, respectively. The obtained results for the InGaN active layers on relaxed GaN and AlN/GaN periodic multilayers indicate enhanced indium incorporation for more relaxed InGaN active layers providing a variety of emission colors from purple to green.