Access by Xinjiang University

Optical Anisotropy and Photopumped Lasing near 250 nm from Semipolar $(1 \bar{1} 02)$ $Al$ $_{x}$ $Ga$ $_{1 - x}$ $N$ / $Al N$ Quantum Wells with Cleaved Mirrors

Shuhei Ichikawa ^†, Mitsuru Funato , and Yoichi Kawakami^*

Department of Electronic Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan

^*kawakami@kuee.kyoto-u.ac.jp
^†Present address: Division of Electrical, Electronic and Infocommunications Engineering, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.

Phys. Rev. Applied 18, 044005 – Published 3 October, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.18.044005

Abstract

The optical anisotropy of $r$ -plane $Al$ $_{x}$ $Ga$ $_{1 - x}$ $N$ / $Al N$ quantum wells (QWs) is investigated theoretically and experimentally. Theoretical calculations predict that as the $Al$ composition is increased from 0 to 1, the in-plane polarization switches from $E ⊥$ [11 $\bar{2}$ 0] to $E ⊥$ [1 $\bar{1}$ 01] at an $Al$ composition of approximately 0.2. The polarization properties are nearly independent of the well width, particularly when the well width is thicker than approximately $1.5 nm$ . Photoluminescence spectroscopy of the fabricated $r$ -plane $Al$ $_{x}$ $Ga$ $_{1 - x}$ $N$ / $Al N$ QWs experimentally confirms the theoretical prediction. The $E ⊥$ [1 $\bar{1}$ 01] polarization enables the emitted light to propagate along the [11 $\bar{2}$ 0] direction. Using this property, photopumped lasing at approximately 250-nm wavelength at 11 K is demonstrated from an $r$ -plane $Al$ $_{x}$ $Ga$ $_{1 - x}$ $N$ / $Al N$ QW with the cleaved (11 $\bar{2}$ 0) $a$ planes as cavity mirrors.

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (54)

A. Khan, K. Balakrishnan, and T. Katona, Ultraviolet light-emitting diodes based on group three nitrides, Nat. Photon. 2, 77 (2008).
A. Fujioka, T. Misaki, T. Maruyama, Y. Narukawa, and T. Mukai, Improvement in output power of 280-nm deep ultraviolet light-emitting diode by using $Al Ga N$ multi quantum wells, Appl. Phys. Express 3, 041001 (2010).
C. Pernot, M. Kim, S. Fukahori, T. Inazu, T. Fujita, Y. Nagasawa, A. Hirano, M. Ippommatsu, M. Iwaya, S. Kamiyama, I. Akasaki, and H. Amano, Improved efficiency of 255–280 nm $Al Ga N$ -based light-emitting diodes, Appl. Phys. Express 3, 061004 (2010).
T. Oto, R. G. Banal, K. Kataoka, M. Funato, and Y. Kawakami, 100 mW deep-ultraviolet emission from aluminium-nitride-based quantum wells pumped by an electron beam, Nat. Photon. 4, 767 (2010).
M. Shatalov, W. Sun, R. Jain, A. Lunev, X. Hu, A. Dobrinsky, Y. Bilenko, J. Yang, G. A. Garrett, L. E. Rodak, M. Wraback, M. Shur, and R. Gaska, High power $Al Ga N$ ultraviolet light emitters, Semicond. Sci. Technol. 29, 084007 (2014).
J. R. Grandusky, S. R. Gibb, M. C. Mendrick, C. Moe, M. Wraback, and L. J. Schowalter, High output power from 260 nm pseudomorphic ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with improved thermal performance, Appl. Phys. Express 4, 082101 (2011).
T. Takano, T. Mino, J. Sakai, N. Noguchi, K. Tsubaki, and H. Hirayama, Deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with external quantum efficiency higher than 20% at 275 nm achieved by improving light-extraction efficiency, Appl. Phys. Express 10, 031002 (2017).
R. Akaike, S. Ichikawa, M. Funato, and Y. Kawakami, $Al$ $_{x}$ $Ga$ $_{1 - x}$ $N$ -based semipolar deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes, Appl. Phys. Express 11, 061001 (2018).
M. Kneissl, T.-Y. Seong, J. Han, and H. Amano, The emergence and prospects of deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diode technologies, Nat. Photon. 13, 233 (2019).
H. Miyake, C.-H. Lin, K. Tokoro, and K. Hiramatsu, Preparation of high-quality $Al N$ on sapphire by high-temperature face-to-face annealing, J. Crystal Growth 456, 155 (2016).
H. Yoshida, Y. Yamashita, M. Kuwabara, and H. Kan, Demonstration of an ultraviolet 336 nm $Al Ga N$ multiple-quantum-well laser diode, Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 241106 (2008).
Z. Zhang, M. Kushimoto, T. Sakai, N. Sugiyama, L. Schowalter, C. Sasaoka, and H. Amano, A 271.8 nm deep-ultraviolet laser diode for room temperature operation, Appl. Phys. Express 12, 124003 (2019).
K. Sato, S. Yasue, K. Yamada, S. Tanaka, T. Omori, S. Ishizuka, S. Teramura, Y. Ogino, S. Iwayama, H. Miyake, M. Iwaya, T. Takeuchi, S. Kamiyama, and I. Akasaki, Room-temperature operation of $Al Ga N$ ultraviolet-B laser diode at 298 nm on lattice-relaxed $Al$ $_{0} .6$ $Ga$ $_{0} .4$ $N$ / $Al N$ /sapphire, Appl. Phys. Express 13, 031004 (2020).
Z. Zhang, M. Kushimoto, A. Yoshikawa, K. Aoto, L. J. Schowalter, C. Sasaoka, and H. Amano, Continuous-wave lasing of $Al Ga N$ -based ultraviolet laser diode at 274.8 nm by current injection, Appl. Phys. Express 15, 041007 (2022).
S.-H. Park and S.-L. Chuang, Crystal-orientation effects on the piezoelectric field and electronic properties of strained wurtzite semiconductors, Phys. Rev. B 59, 4725 (1999).
S. Ichikawa, Y. Iwata, M. Funato, S. Nagata, and Y. Kawakami, High quality semipolar (1 $\bar{1}$ 02) $Al Ga N$ / $Al N$ quantum wells with remarkably enhanced optical transition probabilities, Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 252102 (2014).
M. Suzuki, T. Uenoyama, and A. Yanase, First-principles calculations of effective-mass parameters of $Al N$ and $Ga N$ , Phys. Rev. B 52, 8132 (1995).
S.-H. Wei and A. Zunger, Valence band splittings and band offsets of $Al N$ , $Ga N$ , and $In N$ , Appl. Phys. Lett. 69, 2719 (1996).
J. Li, K. B. Nam, M. L. Nakarmi, J. Y. Lin, H. X. Jiang, P. Carrier, and S.-H. Wei, Band structure and fundamental optical transitions in wurtzite $Al N$ , Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 5163 (2003).
E. Silveira, J. A. Freitas Jr., O. J. Glembocki, G. A. Slack, and L. J. Schowalter, Excitonic structure of bulk $Al N$ from optical reflectivity and cathodoluminescence measurements, Phys. Rev. B 71, 041201(R) (2005).
G. Rossbach, M. Feneberg, M. Röppischer, C. Werner, N. Esser, C. Cobet, T. Meisch, K. Thonke, A. Dadger, J. Bläsing, A. Krost, and R. Goldhahn, Influence of exciton-phonon coupling and strain on the anisotropic optical response of wurtzite $Al N$ around the band edge, Phys. Rev. B 83, 195202 (2011).
R. Ishii, A. Kaneta, M. Funato, and Y. Kawakami, Complete set of deformation potentials for $Al N$ determined by reflectance spectroscopy under uniaxial stress, Phys. Rev. B 87, 235201 (2013).
P. P. Paskov, T. Paskova, P. O. Holtz, and B. Monemar, Polarized photoluminescence study of free and bound excitons in free-standing $Ga N$ , Phys. Rev. B 70, 035210 (2004).
K. Kojima, M. Ueda, M. Funato, and Y. Kawakami, Photoluminescence and optical reflectance investigation of semipolar and nonpolar $Ga N$ , Phys. Stat. Sol. (b) 244, 1853 (2007).
R. Ishii, A. Kaneta, M. Funato, Y. Kawakami, and A. A. Yamaguchi, All deformation potentials in $Ga N$ determined by reflectance spectroscopy under uniaxial stress: Definite breakdown of the quasicubic approximation, Phys. Rev. B 81, 155202 (2010).
R. G. Banal, M. Funato, and Y. Kawakami, Optical anisotropy in [0001]-oriented $Al$ $_{x}$ $Ga$ $_{1 - x}$ $N$ / $Al N$ quantum wells ( $x > 0.69$ ), Phys. Rev. B 79, 121308(R) (2009).
J. E. Northrup, C. L. Chua, Z. Yang, T. Wunderer, M. Kneissl, N. M. Johnson, and T. Kolbe, Effect of strain and barrier composition on the polarization of light emission from $Al Ga N$ / $Al N$ quantum wells, Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 021101 (2012).
M. Guttmann, F. Mehnke, B. Belde, F. Woll, C. Reich, L. Sulmoni, T. Wernicke, and M. Kneissl, Optical light polarization and light extraction efficiency of $Al Ga N$ -based LEDs emitting between 264 and 220 nm, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 58, SCCB20 (2019).
M. Funato, K. Matsuda, R. G. Banal, R. Ishii, and Y. Kawakami, Strong optical polarization in nonpolar (1 $\bar{1}$ 00) $Al$ $_{x}$ $Ga$ $_{1 - x}$ $N$ / $Al N$ quantum wells, Phys. Rev. B 87, 041306(R) (2013).
R. Banal, Y. Taniyasu, and H. Yamamoto, Deep-ultraviolet light emission properties of nonpolar $M$ -plane $Al Ga N$ quantum wells, Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 053104 (2014).
K. Balakrishnan, V. Adivarahan, Q. Fareed, M. Lanhab, B. Zhang, and A. Khan, First demonstration of semipolar deep ultraviolet light emitting diode on $m$ -plane sapphire with $Al Ga N$ multiple quantum wells, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 49, 040206 (2010).
K. Ueno, A. Kobayashi, J. Ohta, and H. Fujioka, Structural properties of semipolar $Al$ $_{x}$ $Ga$ $_{1 - x}$ $N$ (1 $\bar{1}$ 03) films grown on $Zn O$ substrates using room temperature epitaxial buffer layers, Phys. Stat. Sol. (a) 207, 2149 (2010).
J. Stellmach, F. Mehnke, M. Frentrup, C. Reich, J. Schlegel, M. Pristovsek, T. Wernicke, and M. Kneissl, Structural and optical properties of semipolar (11 $\bar{2}$ 2) $Al Ga N$ grown on (10 $\bar{1}$ 0) sapphire by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy, J. Crystal Growth 367, 42 (2013).
T. Wunderer, Z. Yang, M. Feneberg, M. Batres, M. Teepe, and N. Johnson, Structural and optical characterization of $Al Ga N$ multiple quantum wells grown on semipolar (20–21) bulk $Al N$ substrate, Appl. Phys. Lett. 111, 111101 (2017).
M. Jo, Y. Itakazu, S. Kuwaba, and H. Hirayama, Controlled crystal orientations of semipolar $Al N$ grown on an $m$ -plane sapphire by MOCVD, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 58, SC1031 (2019).
S. Ichikawa, M. Funato, and Y. Kawakami, Metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy of pit-free $Al N$ homoepitaxial films on various semipolar substrates, J. Crystal Growth 522, 68 (2019).
I. Vurgaftman and J. R. Meyer, Band parameters for nitrogen-containing semiconductors, J. Appl. Phys. 94, 3675 (2003).
T. Takano, Y. Narita, A. Horiuchi, and H. Kawanishi, Room-temperature deep-ultraviolet lasing at 241.5 nm of $Al Ga N$ multiple-quantum-well laser, Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 3567 (2004).
M. Lachab, F. Asif, A. Coleman, I. Ahmad, B. Zhang, V. Adivarahan, and A. Khan, Optically-pumped 285 nm edge stimulated emission from $Al Ga N$ -based LED structures grown by MOCVD on sapphire substrates, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 53, 112101 (2014).
Y. Tian, Y. Zhang, J. Yan, X. Chen, J. Wang, and J. Li, Stimulated emission at 272 nm from an $Al$ $_{x}$ $Ga$ $_{1 - x}$ $N$ -based multiple-quantum-well laser with two-step etched facets, RSC Adv. 6, 50245 (2016).
X.-H. Li, T. Detchprohm, T.-T. Kao, M. M. Satter, S.-C. Shen, P. D. Yoder, R. D. Dupuis, S. Wang, Y. O. Wei, H. Xie, A. M. Fischer, F. A. Ponce, T. Wernicke, C. Reich, M. Martens, and M. Kneissl, Low-threshold stimulated emission at 249 nm and 256 nm from $Al Ga N$ -based multiple-quantum-well lasers grown on sapphire substrates, Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 141106 (2014).
V. N. Jmerik, E. V. Lutsenko, and S. V. Ivanov, Plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy of $Al Ga N$ heterostructures for deep-ultraviolet optically pumped lasers, Phys. Stat. Sol. (a) 210, 439 (2013).
E. V. Lutsenko, N. V. Rzheutskii, V. N. Pavlovskii, G. P. Yablonskii, D. V. Nechaev, A. A. Sitnikova, V. V. Ratnikov, Y. V. Kuznetsova, V. N. Zhmerik, and S. V. Ivanov, Spontaneous and stimulated emission in the mid-ultraviolet range of quantum-well heterostructures based on $Al Ga N$ compounds grown by molecular beam epitaxy on c-sapphire substrates, Phys. Solid State 55, 2173 (2013).
F. Asif, M. Lachab, A. Coleman, I. Ahmad, B. Zhang, V. Adivarahan, and A. Khan, Deep ultraviolet photopumped stimulated emission from partially relaxed $Al Ga N$ multiple quantum well heterostructures grown on sapphire substrates, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 32, 061204 (2014).
X.-H. Li, T.-T. Kao, M. M. Satter, Y. O. Wei, S. Wang, H. Xie, S.-C. Shen, P. D. Yoder, A. M. Fischer, F. A. Ponce, T. Detchprohm, and R. D. Dupuis, Demonstration of transverse-magnetic deep-ultraviolet stimulated emission from $Al Ga N$ multiple-quantum-well lasers grown on a sapphire substrate, Appl. Phys. Lett. 106, 041115 (2015).
J. Xie, S. Mita, Z. Bryan, W. Guo, L. Hussey, B. Moody, R. Schlesser, R. Kirste, M. Gerhold, R. Collazo, and Z. Sitar, Lasing and longitudinal cavity modes in photo-pumped deep ultraviolet $Al Ga N$ heterostructures, Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 171102 (2013).
Y.-S. Liu, Z. Lochner, T.-T. Kao, M. M. Satter, X.-H. Li, J.-H. Ryou, S.-C. Shen, P. D. Yoder, T. Detchprohm, R. D. Dupuis, Y. Wei, H. Xie, A. Fischer, and F. Ponce, Optically pumped $Al Ga N$ quantum-well lasers at sub-250 nm grown by MOCVD on $Al N$ substrates, Phys. Stat. Sol. (c) 11, 258 (2014).
Z. Lochner, T.-T. Kao, Y.-S. Liu, X.-H. Li, M. M. Satter, S.-C. Shen, P. D. Yoder, J.-H. Ryou, R. D. Dupuis, Y. Wei, H. Xie, A. Fischer, and F. A. Ponce, Deep-ultraviolet lasing at 243 nm from photo-pumped $Al Ga N$ / $Al N$ heterostructure on $Al N$ substrate, Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 101110 (2013).
Z. Lochner, T.-T. Kao, Y.-S. Liu, X.-H. Li, M. M. Satter, S.-C. Shen, P. D. Yoder, J.-H. Ryou, R. D. Dupuis, Y. Wei, H. Xie, A. Fischer, and F. A. Ponce, Room-temperature optically pumped $Al Ga N$ - $Al N$ multiple-quantum-well lasers operating at $< 260 nm$ grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, Proc. SPIE 8625, 862519 (2013).
T. Wunderer, C. L. Chua, Z. Yang, J. E. Northrup, N. M. Johnson, G. A. Garrett, H. Shen, and M. Wraback, Pseudomorphically grown ultraviolet C photopumped lasers on bulk $Al N$ substrates, Appl. Phys. Express 4, 092101 (2011).
Z. Lochner, X.-H. Li, T.-T. Kao, M. M. Satter, H. J. Kim, S.-C. Shen, P. D. Yoder, J.-H. Ryou, R. D. Dupuis, K. Sun, Y. Wei, T. Li, A. Fischer, and F. A. Ponce, Stimulated emission at 257 nm from optically-pumped $Al Ga N$ / $Al N$ heterostructure on $Al N$ substrate, Phys. Stat. Sol. (a) 210, 1768 (2013).
M. Lachab, W. Sun, R. Jain, A. Dobrinsky, M. Gaevski, S. Rumyantsev, M. Shur, and M. Shatalov, Optical polarization control of photo-pumped stimulated emissions at 238 nm from $Al Ga N$ multiple-quantum-well laser structures on $Al N$ substrates, Appl. Phys. Express 10, 012702 (2017).
T.-T. Kao, Y.-S. Liu, M. M. Satter, X.-H. Li, Z. Lochner, P. D. Yoder, T. Detchprohm, R. D. Dupuis, S.-C. Shen, J.-H. Ryou, A. M. Fischer, Y. Wei, H. Xie, and F. A. Ponce, Sub-250 nm low-threshold deep-ultraviolet $Al Ga N$ -based heterostructure laser employing $Hf O$ $_{2}$ / $Si O$ $_{2}$ dielectric mirrors, Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 211103 (2013).
Y.-S. Liu, T.-T. Kao, M. M. Satter, Z. Lochner, X.-H. Li, S.-C. Shen, P. D. Yoder, T. Detchprohm, R. D. Dupuis, Y. Wei, H. Xie, A. Fischer, and F. A. Ponce, Optically-pumped deep-ultraviolet $Al Ga N$ multi-quantum-well lasers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, Proc. SPIE 9002, 90020H (2014).

Physical Review Applied

Export citation

Export citation

Optical Anisotropy and Photopumped Lasing near 250 nm from Semipolar $(1 \bar{1} 02)$ $Al$ $_{x}$ $Ga$ $_{1 - x}$ $N$ / $Al N$ Quantum Wells with Cleaved Mirrors

Abstract

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (54)

Outline

Information

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation

Optical Anisotropy and Photopumped Lasing near 250 nm from Semipolar (11¯02) AlxGa1−xN/AlN Quantum Wells with Cleaved Mirrors

Abstract

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (54)

Optical Anisotropy and Photopumped Lasing near 250 nm from Semipolar $(1 \bar{1} 02)$ $Al$ $_{x}$ $Ga$ $_{1 - x}$ $N$ / $Al N$ Quantum Wells with Cleaved Mirrors