Efficiency droop suppression in GaN-based light-emitting diodes by chirped multiple quantum well structure at high current injection

Gallium nitride （GaN） based light-emitting diodes （LEDs） with chirped multiple quantum well （MQW） structures have been investigated experimentally and numerically in this paper. Compared to conventional LEDs with uniform quantum wells （QWs）, LEDs with chirped MQW structures have better internal quantum efficiency （IQE） and carrier injection efficiency. The droop ratios of LEDs with chirped MQW structures show a remarkable improvement at 600 mA/mm2, reduced down from 28.6% （conventional uniform LEDs） to 23.7% （chirped MQWs-a） and 18.6% （chirped MQWs-b）, respectively. Meanwhile, the peak IQE increases from 76.9% （uniform LEDs） to 83.7% （chirped MQWs-a） and 88.6% （chirped MQWs-b）. The reservoir effect of chirped MQW structures is the significant reason as it could increase hole injection efficiency and radiative recombination. The leakage current and Auger recombination of chirped MQW structures can also be suppressed. Furthermore, the chirped MQWs-b structure with lower potential barriers can enhance the reservoir effect and obtain further improvement of the carrier injection efficiency and radiative recombination, as well as further suppressing efficiency droop.

Experimental investigation of loss and gain characteristics of an abnormal In_xGa_(1-x)As/GaAs quantum well structure

In this Letter, the loss and gain characteristics of an unconventional InxGa1-xAs∕Ga As asymmetrical step well structure consisting of variable indium contents of InxGa1-xAs materials are measured and analyzed for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. This special well structure is formed based on the indium-rich effect from the material growth process. The loss and gain are obtained by optical pumping and photoluminescence（PL）spectrum measurement at dual facets of an edge-emitting device. Unlike conventional quasi-rectangle wells, the asymmetrical step well may lead to a hybrid strain configuration containing both compressive and tensile strains and, thus, special loss and gain characteristics. The results will be very helpful in the development of multiple wavelength In Ga As-based semiconductor lasers.

A novel coupled quantum well structure and its excellent electro-optical properties

A novel InGaAs/InAlAs coupled quantum well structure is proposed for large field-induced refractive index change with low absorption loss. In the case of low applied electric field of 15 kV/cm and low absorption loss （α≤100 cm^-1）, a large field-induced refractive index change （for transverse electric （TE） mode, △n= 0.012; for transverse magnetic （TM） mode, △n = 0.0126） is obtained in the structure at the operation wavelength of 1.55 μm. The value is larger by over one order of magnitude than that in a rectangular quantum well. The result is very attractive for semiconductor optical switching devices.

A novel coupled quantum well structure with large field-induced refractive index change and low absorption loss at 1.55 μm

A novel coupled quantum well structure - quasi-symmetric coupled quantum well （QSCQW） is proposed. In the case of low applied electric field （F = 25 kV/cm） and low absorption loss （a ≈ 100 cm^-1）, a large field-induced refractive index change （for TE mode, △n = 0.0106; for TM mode, △n = 0.0115） is obtained in QSCQW structure at operating wavelength λ = 1550 nm. The value is larger by over one to two order of magnitude compared to that in a rectangular quantum well （RQW） and about 50% larger than that of five-step asymmetric coupled quantum well （FACQW） structure under the above work conditions.

An optically pumped GaN/AlGaN quantum well intersubband terahertz laser

We propose an optically pumped nonpolar GaN/AlGaN quantum well（QW） active region design for terahertz（THz） lasing in the wavelength range of 30 μm～ 40 μm and operating at room temperature.The fast longitudinal optical（LO） phonon scattering in GaN/AlGaN QWs is used to depopulate the lower laser state,and more importantly,the large LO phonon energy is utilized to reduce the thermal population of the lasing states at high temperatures.The influences of temperature and pump intensity on gain and electron densities are investigated.Based on our simulations,we predict that with a sufficiently high pump intensity,a room temperature operated THz laser using a nonpolar GaN/AlGaN structure is realizable.