Atomistic analysis of Auger recombination in c-plane (In,Ga)N/GaN quantum wells: Temperature-dependent competition between radiative and nonradiative recombination

Joshua M. McMahon, Emmanouil Kioupakis, and Stefan Schulz
Phys. Rev. B 105, 195307 – Published 12 May 2022; Erratum Phys. Rev. B 108, 039901 (2023)

Abstract

We present an atomistic theoretical study of the temperature dependence of the competition between Auger and radiative recombination in c-plane (In,Ga)N/GaN quantum wells with indium (In) contents of 10%, 15%, and 25%. The model accounts for random alloy fluctuations and the connected fluctuations in strain and built-in field. Our investigations reveal that the total Auger recombination rate exhibits a weak temperature dependence; at a temperature of 300 K and a carrier density of n3D=3.8×1018cm3, we find total Auger coefficients in the range of 6×1030cm6/s (10% In) to 3×1031cm6/s (25% In), thus large enough to significantly impact the efficiency in (In,Ga)N systems. Our calculations show that the hole-hole-electron Auger rate dominates the total rate for the three In contents studied; however, the relative difference between the hole-hole-electron and electron-electron-hole contributions decreases as the In content is increased to 25%. Our studies provide further insight into the origin of the “thermal droop” (i.e., the decrease in internal quantum efficiency with increasing temperature at a fixed carrier density) in (In,Ga)N-based light-emitting diodes. We find that the ratio of radiative to nonradiative (Auger) recombination increases in the temperature range relevant to the thermal droop (300 K), suggesting that the competition between these processes is not driving this droop effect in c-plane (In,Ga)N/GaN quantum wells. This finding is in line with recent experimental studies.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 21 October 2021
  • Revised 20 March 2022
  • Accepted 25 April 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.105.195307

©2022 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Erratum

Authors & Affiliations

Joshua M. McMahon1,2,*, Emmanouil Kioupakis3, and Stefan Schulz1,2

  • 1Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork, Cork T12 R5CP, Ireland
  • 2Department of Physics, University College Cork, Cork T12 YN60, Ireland
  • 3Materials Science and Engineering Department, University of Michigan, 2300 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA

  • *joshua.mcmahon@tyndall.ie

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 105, Iss. 19 — 15 May 2022

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review B

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×