Dominant carrier recombination mechanisms in GaInNAs/GaAs quantum well light-emitting diodes

J.-M. Ulloa , A. Hierro , J. Miguel-Sanchez , A. Guzman , E. Tournié (1) , J.L. Sanchez-Rojas , E. Calleja

1 CEM2 - Centre d'Electronique et de Micro-optoélectronique de Montpellier

The electroluminescence of GaInNAs/GaAs quantum well light-emitting diodes is analyzed as a function of temperature and injection current. The relative influence of nonradiative carrier recombination, recombination from localized states, and conduction-band to valence-band recombination is discussed. The localized states are found to dominate the emission and the external quantum efficiency only at low temperatures and currents. When temperature and/or injection level are increased, band-to-band transitions become the main recombination mechanism. Nonradiative recombination is strongly thermally activated, and becomes the dominant process above 75 K. As a result of postgrowth rapid thermal annealing, the device luminescence efficiency increases by over one order of magnitude due to a decrease in the density of nonradiative recombination centers.

Domaines: Electronique

J.-M. Ulloa, A. Hierro, J. Miguel-Sanchez, A. Guzman, E. Tournié, et al.. Dominant carrier recombination mechanisms in GaInNAs/GaAs quantum well light-emitting diodes. Applied Physics Letters, 2004, 85 (1), pp.40 - 42. ⟨10.1063/1.1769078⟩. ⟨hal-00327653⟩