Photoluminescence of excitons in InxGa1-xN/InyGa1-yN multiple quantum wells

• We report on a detailed study of excitons in InxGa1-xN/InyGa1-yN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with an In composition x in the QWs of about 0.1, and a small In composition y in the barrier of 0.01-0.02. The MOVPE growth procedure was optimized to allow growth without In segregation. The InyGa1-yN barriers had a Si doping of about 5 x 10(18) cm(-3) . The low temperature photoluminescence spectra show two sets of exciton-like spectra with quite different properties. The lower energy emission has a small thermal activation energy (about 5 meV), and thus disappears at elevated temperatures, it is not observed at room temperature. The higher energy exciton state has a decay time of about 5 ns, while the lower energy process is much slower. We have also done preliminary studies on samples where the MQW region is situated in a p-n junction field, with semi-transparent contacts, to study the effects of varying the bias across the MQW structure. The combination of optical data can e interpreted in terms of a substantial potential gradient across the MQW region for both samples. The conclusion is that probably only one QW is emitting at low T (and no bias), and the second lower energy PL peak originates from a shallow notch in the conduction band at the interface between the thick GaN buffer layer and the first Ga(In)N barrier.

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