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Effect of Varying Three-Dimensional Strain on the Emission Properties of Light-Emitting Diodes Based on (In,Ga)N/GaN Nanowires

M. Musolino, A. Tahraoui, and L. Geelhaar*

F. Sacconi and F. Panetta

C. De Santi, M. Meneghini, and E. Zanoni

  • Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik, Hausvogteiplatz 5–7, D-10117 Berlin, Germany

  • TiberLAB s.r.l., Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy

  • Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, Via Gradenigo 6/B, 35131 Padova, Italy

  • *To whom all correspondence should be addressed. geelhaar@pdi-berlin.de
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Phys. Rev. Applied 7, 044014 – Published 19 April, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.7.044014

Abstract

In the experimental electroluminescence (EL) spectra of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on N-polar (In,Ga)N/GaN nanowires (NWs), we observe a double-peak structure. The relative intensity of the two peaks evolves in a peculiar way with injected current. Spatially and spectrally resolved EL maps confirm the presence of two main transitions in the spectra and suggest that they are emitted by a majority of the single nano LEDs. In order to elucidate the physical origin of this effect, we perform theoretical calculations of the strain, electric field, and charge-density distributions for both planar LEDs and NW LEDs. On this basis, we simulate also the EL spectra of these devices, which exhibit a double-peak structure for N-polar heterostructures, in both the NW and the planar case. By contrast, this feature is not observed when Ga-polar planar LEDs are simulated. We find that the physical origin of the double-peak structure is a stronger quantum-confined Stark effect occurring in the first and last quantum well of the N-polar heterostructures. The peculiar evolution of the relative peak intensities with injected current, seen only in the case of the NW LED, is attributed to the three-dimensional strain variation resulting from elastic relaxation at the free sidewalls of the NWs. Therefore, this study provides important insights on the working principle of N-polar LEDs based on both planar and NW heterostructures.

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Phys. Rev. Applied 7, 044014– Published 19 April, 2017
  • Received 29 December 2016

© 2017 American Physical Society

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