Effect of High Temperature Treatment on the Photoluminescence of InGaN Multiple Quantum Wells

Abstract

In this work, the photoluminescence (PL) properties of three as-grown InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) structures which are heat-treated under different temperatures with nitrogen (N2) atmosphere are investigated. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) analysis was used to characterize the depth of localized states and defect density formed in MQWs. By fitting the positions of luminescence peaks with an LSE model, we find that deeper localized states are formed in the MQWs after high-temperature treatment. The experimental results show that the luminescence intensity of the sample heat-treated at 880 °C is significantly improved, which may be due to the shielding effect of In clusters on defects. While the luminescence efficiency decreases because of the higher defect density caused by the decomposition of the InGaN QW layer when the sample is heat-treated at 1020 °C. Moreover, the atomic force microscope results show that the increase in heat-treatment temperature leads to an increase in the width of surface steps due to the rearrangement of surface atoms in a high-temperature environment.