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Investigation of whether uniform carrier distribution in quantum wells can lead to higher performance in InGaN light-emitting diodes

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Abstract

InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with graded-composition multiple quantum wells (GQWs) were designed and theoretically investigated. In the GQW LED structure, the indium composition in In x Ga1−x N QW was decreased sequentially in increments, \(\Delta x\), along the [0001] orientation. Across the composition range, the GQW LEDs have high carrier injection efficiencies and enhanced uniform carrier distributions in the multiple quantum wells because of the band structure. When \(\Delta x = 0.01\), the light output power the GQW LED was enhanced by 4.2 % compared with that of the original LED, which corresponds to an increase of IQE of 4.5 % at 180 mA. However, when \(\Delta x\) increased to 0.02, the light output power of the GQW LEDs was reduced by 3.1 % compared with that of original LED, which corresponds to a decrease of IQE of 3.3 % at 180 mA. Results from the simulations indicated that the device performance was not only related to the carrier injection efficiency and the carrier distribution, but was also related to the balance of electrons and holes in the QWs.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61404114, 11304271 and 11004170), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant Nos. BK20140491 and BK20130434) and Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (Grant Nos. 14KJB140016 and 13KJB140019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Physics Science and Technology & Institute of Optoelectronic Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225002, China

    Liwen Cheng, Shudong Wu, Haitao Chen & Changquan Xia

  2. Institute of Information Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 89 Min Zhuang Road, Beijing, 100093, China

    Qingshan Kong

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  1. Liwen Cheng
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  2. Shudong Wu
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  3. Haitao Chen
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  4. Changquan Xia
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  5. Qingshan Kong
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Correspondence to Liwen Cheng.

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Cheng, L., Wu, S., Chen, H. et al. Investigation of whether uniform carrier distribution in quantum wells can lead to higher performance in InGaN light-emitting diodes. Opt Quant Electron 48, 10 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-015-0278-z

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