Excitation current dependent cathodoluminescence study of InGaN/GaN quantum wells grown on m-plane and c-plane GaN substrates

InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs) grown with identical conditions on m-plane and c-plane GaN substrates were studied by cathodoluminescence spectroscopy. At a low current of 10 nA, the emission intensity and wavelength of the m-plane aligned QWs were found to be about two times stronger and 19.5 nm blueshifted with respect to that of the c-plane aligned QWs. An increase in the current over three orders of magnitude was found to result in an increase in the emission intensities, with faster saturation in the m-plane aligned QWs. This was explained by the screening of quantum-confined Stark effect in the emission efficiency of the c-plane aligned QWs.

Lai, K. Y., Paskova, T., Wheeler, V. D., Grenko, J. A., Johnson, M. A. L., Barlage, D. W., ... Evans, K. R. (2009). Excitation current dependent cathodoluminescence study of InGaN/GaN quantum wells grown on m-plane and c-plane GaN substrates. Journal of Applied Physics, 106(11), [113104]. DOI: 10.1063/1.3264729