Core-shell multi-quantum wells in ZnO / ZnMgO nanowires with high optical efficiency at room temperature

Robin Thierry (1) , Guillaume Perillat-Merceroz (1, 2) , Pierre-Henri Jouneau (2) , Pierre Ferret (1) , Guy Feuillet (1)

1 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information
2 LEMMA - Laboratoire d'Etude des Matériaux par Microscopie Avancée

Nanowire-based light-emitting devices require multi-quantum well heterostructures with high room temperature optical efficiencies. We demonstrate that such efficiencies can be attained through the use of ZnO/Zn(1-x)MgxO core shell quantum well heterostructures grown by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy. Varying the barrier Mg concentration from x=0.15 to x=0.3 leads to the formation of misfit induced dislocations in the multi quantum wells. Correlatively, temperature dependant photoluminescence reveals that the radial well luminescence intensity decreases much less rapidly with increasing temperature for the lower Mg concentration. Indeed, about 54% of the 10K intensity is retained at room temperature with x=0.15, against 2% with x=0.30. Those results open the way to the realization of high optical efficiency nanowire-based light emitting diodes.

Mots clés: Nanowire; ZnO; quantum well; core-shell; ZnMgO; vapor phase epitaxy; MOCVD; MOVPE; internal quantum efficiency

Domaines: Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique; Matériaux; Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]; Optique [physics.optics]

Robin Thierry, Guillaume Perillat-Merceroz, Pierre-Henri Jouneau, Pierre Ferret, Guy Feuillet. Core-shell multi-quantum wells in ZnO / ZnMgO nanowires with high optical efficiency at room temperature. Nanotechnology, 2012, 23 (8), pp.085705. ⟨10.1088/0957-4484/23/8/085705⟩. ⟨hal-00787485⟩