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Photoluminescence of Multiple GaN/AlN Quantum Wells

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Optoelectronics, Instrumentation and Data Processing Aims and scope

Abstract

Photoluminescence of the structures with multiple GaN/AlN quantum wells grown by molecular beam epitaxy has been investigated. The calculated dependence of the energy of the quantum well photoluminescence band peak on the GaN layer thickness has been compared with the experimental data for various ratios of the thickness of the GaN and AlN layers. The thicknesses of the GaN and AlN layers were determined by transmission electron microscopy. The calculations of the photoluminescence band peak energy were carried out in the 6-band kp-approximation with consideration of spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations. According to the calculation results, the slope of the dependence of the emission energy on the GaN layer thickness decreases as the ratio of the GaN layer thickness to the AlN layer thickness increases in accordance with the decrease in the electric field in the GaN layer. In quantum wells of sufficiently large thickness, the observed photoluminescence band peak energy is higher than the calculation result for undoped structures due to unintentional doping of the quantum wells, which leads to screening of the built-in electric field.

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Funding

This research is carried out in the framework of the government task of the Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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Correspondence to I. A. Aleksandrov.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Translated by E. Smirnova

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Aleksandrov, I.A., Malin, T.V., Protasov, D.Y. et al. Photoluminescence of Multiple GaN/AlN Quantum Wells. Optoelectron.Instrument.Proc. 57, 526–531 (2021). https://doi.org/10.3103/S8756699021050022

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3103/S8756699021050022

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