Unlocking the Origin of Compositional Fluctuations in InGaN Light Emitting Diodes
Tara P. Mishra, Govindo J. Syaranamual, Zeyu Deng, Jing Yang Chung, Li Zhang, Sarah A Goodman, Lewys Jones, Michel Bosman, Silvija Gradečak, Stephen J. Pennycoo… 展开作者
Tara P. Mishra, Govindo J. Syaranamual, Zeyu Deng, Jing Yang Chung, Li Zhang, Sarah A Goodman, Lewys Jones, Michel Bosman, Silvija Gradečak, Stephen J. Pennycook, Pieremanuele Canepa
The accurate determination of the compositional fluctuations is pivotal in understanding their role in the reduction of efficiency in high indium content $In_{x}Ga_{1-x}N$ light-emitting diodes, the origin of which is still poorly understood. Here we have combined electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) imaging at sub-nanometer resolution with multiscale computational models to obtain a statistical distribution of the compositional fluctuations in $In_{x}Ga_{1-x}N$ quantum wells (QWs). Employing a multiscale computational model, we show the tendency of intrinsic compositional fluctuation in $In_{x}Ga_{1-x}N$ QWs at different Indium concentration and in the presence of strain. We have developed a systematic formalism based on the autonomous detection of compositional fluctuation in observed and simulated EELS maps. We have shown a direct comparison between the computationally predicted and experimentally observed compositional fluctuations. We have found that although a random alloy model captures the distribution of compositional fluctuations in relatively low In ($\sim$ 18%) content $In_{x}Ga_{1-x}N$ QWs, there exists a striking deviation from the model in higher In content ($\geq$ 24%) QWs. Our results highlight a distinct behavior in carrier localization driven by compositional fluctuations in the low and high In-content InGaN QWs, which would ultimately affect the performance of LEDs. Furthermore, our robust computational and atomic characterization method can be widely applied to study materials in which nanoscale compositional fluctuations play a significant role on the material performance.
InGaN/GaN tunnel junction contacts were grown on top of an InGaN/GaN blue (450 nm) light emitting diode wafer using plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The tunnel junction contacts enable low spreading resistance n-GaN top contact layer thereby requiring less top metal contact coverage on the surface. A voltage drop of 5.3 V at 100 mA, forward resistance of 2 x 10-2 ohm cm2 and a higher light output power are measured in tunnel junction LED. A low resistance of 5 x 10-4 ohm cm2 was measured in a MBE grown tunnel junction on GaN PN junction device, indicating that the tunnel junction LED de…
White light emitting diodes based on III-nitride InGaN/GaN quantum wells currently offer the highest overall efficiency for solid state lighting applications. Although current phosphor-converted white LEDs have high electricity-to-light conversion efficiencies, it has been recently pointed out that the full potential of solid state lighting could be exploited only by color mixing approaches without employing phosphor-based wavelength conversion. Such an approach requires direct emitting LEDs of different colors, in particular in the green/yellow range ov the visible spectrum. This range, howev…
We examine the effect of carrier localization due to random alloy fluctuations on the radiative and Auger recombination rates in InGaN quantum wells as a function of alloy composition, crystal orientation, carrier density, and temperature. Our results show that alloy fluctuations reduce individual transition matrix elements by the separate localization of electrons and holes, but this effect is overcompensated by the additional transitions enabled by translational symmetry breaking and the resulting lack of momentum conservation. Hence, we find that localization increases both radiative and Au…
As an attempt to further elucidate the operating voltage increase in InGaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs), the radiative and nonradiative current components are separately analyzed in combination with the Shockley diode equation. Through the analyses, we have shown that the increase in operating voltage is caused by phase space filling effect in high injection. We have also shown that the classical Shockley diode equation is insufficient to comprehensively explain the I-V curve of the LED devices since the transport and recombination characteristics of respective current components are bas…
By the insertion of thin InGaN layers into Nitrogen-polar GaN p-n junctions, polarization-induced Zener tunnel junctions are studied. The reverse-bias interband Zener tunneling current is found to be weakly temperature dependent, as opposed to the strongly temperature-dependent forward bias current. This indicates tunneling as the primary reverse-bias current transport mechanism. The Indium composition in the InGaN layer is systematically varied to demonstrate the increase in the interband tunneling current. Comparing the experimentally measured tunneling currents to a model helps identify the…
Carrier recombination and transport processes play key roles in determining the optoelectronic performances such as the efficiency droop and forward voltage in InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well (MQW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In this work, we investigate the dominant carrier transport and recombination processes inside and outside the MQW region as a function of injection current from a new point of view by separately examining the carrier energy loss. Analysis of the measurement results reveals that the carrier accumulation and subsequent spill-over from the MQW active region to the clad is…
We report on the design and demonstration of polarization-engineered GaN/InGaN/GaN tunnel junction diodes with high current density and low tunneling turn-on voltage. Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) calculations were used to model and design tunnel junctions with narrow bandgap InGaN-based barrier layers. N-polar p-GaN/In0.33Ga0.67N/n-GaN heterostructure tunnel diodes were grown using molecular beam epitaxy. Efficient zero bias tunneling turn-on with a high current density of 118 A/cm2 at a reverse bias of 1V, reaching a maximum current density up to 9.2 kA/cm2 were obtained. These results rep…
In this paper, we aim to understand the apparent characteristics of IQE and I-V curve in AlGaInP and InGaN LED devices. For the analysis, we separate the current into radiative current and non-radiative current component by using the information of IQE. We carefully analyze each current component by ideality factor, S parameter, and the modified Shockley diode equation which is suitable for LED device. Through the analyses, it has been found that the characteristics of respective current components are basically similar for both samples while the physical origin of the potential drop induced b…
Spectroscopic Signature of Local Alloy Fluctuations in InGaN/GaN Multi-Quantum-Disk Light Emitting Diode Heterostructures and Its Impact on the Optical Performance
We report on the unambiguous detection of Auger electrons by electron emission spectroscopy from a cesiated InGaN/GaN light emitting diode (LED) under electrical injection. Electron emission spectra were measured as a function of the current injected in the device. The appearance of high energy electron peaks simultaneously with an observed drop in electroluminescence efficiency shows that hot carriers are being generated in the active region (InGaN quantum wells) by an Auger process. A linear correlation was measured between the high energy emitted electron current and the "droop current" - t…
Efficiency droop effect under high injection in GaN-based light emitting diodes (LEDs) strongly depends on wavelength, which is still not well understood. In this paper, through differential carrier lifetime measurements on commercialized near-UV, blue, and green LEDs, their different efficiency droop behaviors are attributed to different carrier lifetimes, which are prolonged as wavelength increases. This relationship between carrier lifetime and indium composition of InGaN quantum well is believed owing to the polarization-induced quantum confinement Stark effect. Long carrier lifetime not o…
Bottom up nanowires are attractive for realizing semiconductor devices with extreme heterostructures because strain relaxation through the nanowire sidewalls allows the combination of highly lattice mismatched materials without creating dislocations. The resulting nanowires are used to fabricate light emitting diodes (LEDs), lasers, solar cells and sensors. However, expensive single crystalline substrates are commonly used as substrates for nanowire heterostructures as well as for epitaxial devices, which limits the manufacturability of nanowire devices. Here, we demonstrate nanowire LEDs dire…
This report classifies emission inhomogeneities that manifest in InGaN quantum well blue light-emitting diodes grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on free-standing GaN substrates. By a combination of spatially resolved electroluminescence and cathodoluminescence measurements, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and hot wet KOH etching, the identified inhomogeneities are found to fall in four categories. Labeled here as type I through IV, they are distinguishable by their size, density, energy, intensity, radiative and electronic characteristics and chemical etch p…
Core-shell nanorods (NRs) with InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs) are promising for monolithic white light-emitting diodes and multicolor displays. Such applications, however, are still a challenge because intensity of red band is too weak as compared with blue and green ones. To clarify the problem, we have performed power and temperature dependent, as well as time-resolved measurements of photoluminescence (PL) in NRs of different In content and diameter. These studies have shown that the dominant PL bands originate from nonpolar and semipolar QWs, while a broad yellow-red band arises mostly from…
InGaN-based light emitting diodes (LEDs) are known to suffer from low electron and hole wavefunction overlap due to high piezoelectric field. Staggered InGaN quantum wells (QWs) have been proposed to increase the wavefunction overlap and improve the efficiency of LEDs especially for long wavelength emitters. In this work we evidence that the growth of staggered QWs has also another beneficial effect as it allows to reduce the formation of defects, responsible for nonradiative Shockley-Read-Hall recombination, at the bottom interface of the QW. Staggered QWs comprised an InGaN layer of an inter…
High quality semipolar and nonpolar GaN is crucial in achieving high-performance GaN-based optoelectronic devices, yet it has been very challenging to achieve large-area wafers that are free of basal-plane stacking faults (BSFs). In this work, we report an approach to prepare large-area, stacking-fault-free (SF-free) semipolar GaN on (4-inch) sapphire substrates. A root cause of the formation of BSFs is the emergence of N-polar (000-1) facets during semipolar and non-polar heteroepitaxy. Invoking the concept of kinetic Wulff plot, we succeeded in suppressing the occurrence of N-polar GaN (000-…
Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) must be engineered to circumvent the efficiency limit imposed by the 3:1 ratio of triplet to singlet exciton formation following electron-hole capture. Here we show the spin nature of luminescent radicals such as TTM-3PCz allows direct energy harvesting from both singlet and triplet excitons through energy transfer, with subsequent rapid and efficient light emission from the doublet excitons. This is demonstrated with a model Thermally-Activated Delayed Fluorescence (TADF) organic semiconductor, 4CzIPN, where reverse intersystem crossing from triplets is c…
Semiconductor coupled quantum dots provide a unique opportunity of tuning bandgaps by tailoring band offsets, making them ideal for photovoltaic and other applications. Here, we have studied stability, trends in the band gap, band offsets, and optical properties for a series of coupled quantum dots comprised of II-VI semiconductor using a hybrid functional method. We have shown how the quantum confinement and interfacial strain considerably affect the band gap and band offsets for these heterostructures at the nanoscale. We show that the trend in band offsets obtained from our first-principles…
