Takashi Azuhata

Spontaneous emission of localized excitons in InGaN single and multiquantum well structures

Emission mechanisms of InGaN single quantum well blue and green light emitting diodes and multiquantum well structures were investigated by means of modulation spectroscopy. Their static electroluminescence (EL) peak was assigned to the recombination of excitons localized at certain potential minima in the quantum well. The blueshift of the EL peak caused by the increase of the driving current was explained by combined effects of the quantum‐confinement Stark effect and band filling of the localized states by excitons.

Luminescences from localized states in InGaN epilayers

Optical spectra of the bulk three-dimensional InGaN alloys were measured using the commercially available light-emitting diode devices and their wafers. The emission from undoped InxGa1−xN(x<0.1) was assigned to the recombination of excitons localized at the potential minima originating from the large compositional fluctuation. The emission from heavily impurity-doped InGaN was also pointed out related to the localized states.

Polarized Raman spectra in GaN

We have measured polarized Raman spectra in a 2.0 mu m GaN epitaxial layer of high quality, grown on a sapphire substrate. All symmetry-allowed optical phonons in GaN have been assigned as follows: A1(LO), 735 cm-1; A1(TO), 533 cm-1; E1(LO), 743 cm-1; E1(TO), 561 cm-1; E2, 144 and 569 cm-1. Using the Lyddane-Sachs-Teller relation, the static dielectric constants of GaN for the ordinary and extraordinary directions have been estimated as epsilon perpendicular to 0=9.28 and E/sub //0/=10.1. We have also observed quasi-LO phonons in GaN. A brief discussion on these will be given.

BIAXIAL STRAIN DEPENDENCE OF EXCITON RESONANCE ENERGIES IN WURTZITE GAN

We have systematically studied the strain dependence of the free-exciton resonance energies in wurtzite GaN by photoreflectance measurements using well-characterized samples. The experimental data have been analyzed using the appropriate Hamiltonian for the valence bands in wurtzite GaN and determined the values of the crystal field splitting, the spin–orbit splitting, the shear deformation potential constants, and the energy gap in the unstrained crystal. Discussions are given on the strain dependence of the energy gaps, of the effective masses, and of the binding energies for the free-exciton ground states as well as on the valence-band parameters.

Excitonic emissions from hexagonal GaN epitaxial layers

Excitonic photoluminescence (PL) peaks from hexagonal GaN epilayers were investigated making a connection with the analysis of the photoreflectance spectra. Free exciton emissions associated with transitions from the conduction (Γ7c) band to the A (Γ9v) and B (Γ7uv) valence bands are dominant above 100 K. Values of the full widths at half maximum of them were smaller than the thermal energy kBT up to room temperature, which suggests the dominance of excitons in the PL spectra.

Brillouin scattering study of gallium nitride: elastic stiffness constants

High-resolution Brillouin scattering measurements on a high-quality wurtzite gallium nitride (GaN) single crystal were carried out and elastic stiffness constants were determined. A comparison is given with the results of a recently reported model for calculation of the elastic constants of III-V semiconductors based on the modified version of Keyess relations. A good agreement is found between the experimental and theoretical elastic constants for GaN.

Effects of biaxial strain on exciton resonance energies of hexagonal GaN heteroepitaxial layers

Exciton resonance energies of hexagonal (h‐) GaN(0001) epilayers were determined by a combination of high‐resolution modulated photoreflectance methods. The results were analyzed thoretically using the Luttinger‐Kohn type Hamiltonian for the valence bands under the in‐plain biaxial stress, and we obtained the shear deformation potential constants and energy gap in unstrained crystal. Occurrence of the anticrossing of B and C valence bands in tensile biaxially strained h‐GaN was suggested.

Localized quantum well excitons in InGaN single-quantum-well amber light-emitting diodes

Optical properties of the InGaN single-quantum-well amber light-emitting-diodes were investigated to verify the importance of localized quantum well (QW) excitons in their spontaneous emission mechanisms. The internal piezoelectric field (FPZ) across the QW of the order of 1.4 MV/cm was confirmed to point from the surface to the substrate. Transmittance and photovoltaic spectra exhibited a broad band tail state, and the emission lifetime increased with decreasing detection photon energy. The electroluminescence spectra did not show remarkable energy shift between 10 and 300 K. The spectra exhibited an exponential tail and the higher energy portion increased more rapidly than that of the lower energy one, reflecting a thermal distribution of the localized carriers within the tail states. Since the well thickness is only 2.5 nm and is atomically flat, the device is considered to exhibit reasonably efficient emission with the external quantum efficiency of 5% at 20 mA in spite of the presence of FPZ and larg...

Structural and vibrational properties of GaN

Structural and vibrational properties of device quality pure GaN substrate grown using a lateral epitaxial overgrowth (LEO) technique were studied using x-ray diffraction, Brillouin, Raman, and infrared spectroscopy. Lattice constants were found to be a=3.1896±0.0002 A and c=5.1855±0.0002 A. Comparing the results with those on GaN epilayer directly grown on sapphire substrate, it is shown that the GaN substrate is indeed of high quality, i.e., the lattice is relaxed. However the GaN substrate has a small enough but finite residual strain arising from the pileup of the lateral growth front on SiO2 masks in the course of LEO. It was also found that the elastic stiffness constants C13 and C44, are more sensitive to the residual strain than the optical phonon frequencies. The high frequency and static dielectric constants were found to be 5.14 and 9.04. The Born and Callen effective charges were found to be 2.56 and 0.50.

Optical and structural studies in InGaN quantum well structure laser diodes

An InGaN multiple-quantum-well laser diode wafer that lased at around 400 nm was shown to have the InN mole fraction, x, of only 6% in the wells. Nanometer-probe compositional analysis showed that the fluctuation of x was as small as 1% or less, which is the resolution limit. However, the wells exhibited a Stokes-like shift (SS) of 49 meV at 300 K, which was approximately 65% of the luminescence linewidth, and effective localization depth, E0, was estimated to be 35 meV at 300 K. Since the effective electric field due to polarization in the wells was estimated to be as small as 300 kV/cm, SS was considered to originate from effective band-gap inhomogeneity. Because the well thickness fluctuation was insufficient to reproduce SS or E0 and bulk cubic In0.02Ga0.98N that does not suffer any polarization field or thickness fluctuation effect exhibited a SS of 140 meV at 77 K, the exciton localization is considered to be an intrinsic phenomenon in InGaN, which is due to the large band-gap bowing and In clusteri...