Enhanced light extraction from InGaN/GaN quantum wells with silver gratings

Estelle Homeyer (1) , P. Mattila (2) , J. Oksanen (3) , T. Sadi (3) , H. Nykänen (2) , S. Suihkonen (2) , Clémentine Symonds (1) , J. Tulkki (3) , F. Tuomisto (4) , M. Sopanen (2) , Joël Bellessa (1)

1 ILM - Institut Lumière Matière [Villeurbanne]
2 Department of micro and nanosciences
3 BECS - Department of Biomedical Engineering and Computational Science
4 Department of Applied Physics [Aalto]

We demonstrate that an extraction enhancement by a factor of 2.8 can be obtained for a GaN quantum well structure using metallic nanostructures, compared to a flat semiconductor. The InGaN/GaN quantum well is inserted into a dielectric waveguide, naturally formed in the structure, and a silver grating is deposited on the surface and covered with a polymer film. The polymer layer greatly improves the extraction compared to a single metallic grating. The comparison of the experiments with simulations gives strong indications on the key role of weakly guided modes in the polymer layer diffracted by the grating.

Mots clés: Gratings; Optical waveguides; Light emitting diodes; Thin films; Plasmons; Semiconductors; Transition metals; Quantum wells; Reflectometry; Polymers

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Chimie; Physique [physics]

Estelle Homeyer, P. Mattila, J. Oksanen, T. Sadi, H. Nykänen, et al.. Enhanced light extraction from InGaN/GaN quantum wells with silver gratings. Applied Physics Letters, 2013, 102 (8), pp.081110. ⟨10.1063/1.4794066⟩. ⟨hal-03048867⟩