We report the direct observation of hot carriers generated by Auger recombination via photoluminescence spectroscopy on tailored (AlGaIn)N multiple quantum well (QW) structures containing alternating green and ultra-violet (UV) emitting (GaIn)N QWs. Optically pumping solely the green QWs using a blue emitting high power laser diode, carrier densities similar to electrical light-emitting diode (LED) operation were achieved, circumventing possible leakage and injection effects. This way, luminescence from the UV QWs could be observed for excitation where the emission from the green QWs showed significant droop, giving direct evidence for Auger generated hot electrons and holes being injected into the UV QWs. An examination of the quantitative relation between the intensity of the UV luminescence and the amount of charge carriers lost due to drooping of the QWs supports the conclusion that Auger processes contribute significantly to the droop phenomenon in (AlGaIn)N based light-emitting diodes. Due to their high lifetimes and efficiencies along with rapidly declining prices, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on (AlGaIn)N multiple quantum well (MQW) structures are on their way to replace incandescent as well as fluorescent lighting. Despite great progress in recent years, resulting in peak power conversion efficiencies of up to 81%, 1 one obstacle still to overcome is the decrease in efficiency towards high operating current densities, a phenomenon commonly known as droop. 2,3 The current dependency of the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) can be modeled in good quantitative agreement with experimental data using an ABC rate equation model [4][5][6]

We obtain temperature-dependent recombination coefficients by measuring the quantum efficiency and differential carrier lifetimes in the state-of-the-art InGaN light-emitting diodes. This allows us to gain insight into the physical processes limiting the quantum efficiency of such devices. In the green spectral range, the efficiency deteriorates, which we assign to a combination of diminishing electronhole wave function overlap and enhanced Auger processes, while a significant reduction in material quality with increased In content can be precluded. Here, we analyze and quantify the entire balance of all loss mechanisms and highlight the particular role of hole localization.

A variety of BeMgZnSe–ZnSe- as well as BeTe-based quantum-well structures has been fabri- cated and investigated. BeTe buffer layers improve the growth start on GaAs substrates drasti- cally compared to ZnSe/GaAs. The valence-band offset between BeTe and ZnSe has been determined to be 0.9 eV (type II). Due to the high-lying valence band of BeTe, a BeTe–ZnSe pseudograding can be used for an efficient electrical contact between p-ZnSe and p-GaAs. BeMgZnSe quaternary thin-film structures have reproducibly been grown with high struc- tural quality, and rocking curve widths below 20 arcsec could be reached. Quantum-well structures show a high photoluminescence intensity even at room temperature.

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Based on numerical simulation and comparison with measured current characteristics, we show that the current in InGaN/GaN single-quantum-well light-emitting diodes at low forward bias can be accurately described by a standard trap-assisted tunneling model. The qualitative and quantitative differences in the current characteristics of devices with different emission wavelengths are demonstrated to be correlated in a physically consistent way with the tunneling model parameters