Non-polar <i>m</i>-plane intersubband based InGaN/(Al)GaN quantum well infrared photodetectors

Pesach, Asaf; Gross, Elad; Huang, Chih‐Wei; Lin, Yixin; Vardi, Alon; Schacham, S. E.; Nakamura, Shuji; Bahir, G.

doi:10.1063/1.4813395

Cited by 39 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…15 Room temperature mid-infrared (MIR) ISB absorption in the 4.20 to 4.84 µm range has also been observed recently on m-plane GaN/Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 N MQWs grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). 16 Finally, Pesach et al 17 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intersubband transitions in nonpolar GaN/Al(Ga)N heterostructures in the short- and mid-wavelength infrared regions

Lim

Beeler

Ajay

et al. 2015

Journal of Applied Physics

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This paper assesses nonpolar m-and a-plane GaN/Al(Ga)N multi-quantum-wells grown on bulk GaN for intersubband optoelectronics in the short-and mid-wavelength infrared ranges. The characterization results are compared to those for reference samples grown on the polar c-plane, and are verified by self-consistent Schrödinger-Poisson calculations. The best results in terms of mosaicity, surface roughness, photoluminescence linewidth and intensity, as well as intersubband absorption are obtained from m-plane structures, which display room-temperature intersubband absorption in the range from 1.5 to 2.9 µm. Based on these results, a series of m-plane GaN/AlGaN multi-quantum-wells were designed to determine the accessible spectral range in the mid-infrared. These samples exhibit tunable room-temperature intersubband absorption from 4.0 to 5.8 µm, the long-wavelength limit being set by the absorption associated with the second order of the Reststrahlen band in the GaN substrates.2

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intersubband transitions in nonpolar GaN/Al(Ga)N heterostructures in the short- and mid-wavelength infrared regions

Lim

Beeler

Ajay

et al. 2015

Journal of Applied Physics

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“…Near-infrared intersubband absorption in the cubic AlGaN/GaN has been observed, 15 and m-plane oriented a) omalis@purdue.edu quantum well infrared photodetectors operating in the mid-infrared have recently been demonstrated. 16 However, THz intersubband transitions in non-polar nitrides have not yet been reported. This paper investigates the intersubband absorption properties of non-polar m-plane AlGaN/GaN quantum wells in the THz region.…”

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confidence: 99%

Terahertz intersubband absorption in non-polar m-plane AlGaN/GaN quantum wells

Edmunds

Shao

Shirazi-HD

et al. 2014

Applied Physics Letters

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We demonstrate THz intersubband absorption (15.6-26.1 meV) in m-plane AlGaN/GaN quantum wells. We find a trend of decreasing peak energy with increasing quantum well width, in agreement with theoretical expectations. However, a blue-shift of the transition energy of up to 14 meV was observed relative to the calculated values. This blue-shift is shown to decrease with decreasing charge density and is therefore attributed to many-body effects. Furthermore, a ∼40% reduction in the linewidth (from roughly 8 to 5 meV) was obtained by reducing the total sheet density and inserting undoped AlGaN layers that separate the wavefunctions from the ionized impurities in the barriers.PACS numbers: 78.67. De, 78.66.Fd The terahertz (THz) spectral region has attracted attention due to potential applications in medical diagnostics, security screening and quality control. GaAs/AlGaAs quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) have already demonstrated potential as THz sources in the 1.2-5 THz range. 1-5 However, the operating range of GaAs QCLs is limited by the longitudinal optical (LO) phonon emission at 36 meV (8.7 THz). Fortunately, GaN-based QCLs have the potential to operate in this range due to the larger LO-phonon energy (90 meV).To date, most studies of intersubband transitions in the III-nitrides have utilized the polar c-plane orientation. 6-10 Spontaneous emission from c-plane AlGaN/GaN QCLs in the THz region has been reported, although full laser operation has remained elusive. 11 The built-in polarization fields in c-plane heterostructures place a lower limit on the transition energy, and the inherent asymmetry in the conduction band profile reduces the dipole moment at the larger well widths required for operation in the THz region. These limitations have been partially mitigated by the implementation of more complex step-well designs. 9,12 However, the transition energies of these step-wells are highly sensitive to structural parameters. 13,14 Moreover, the additional layers significantly increase the complexity of design and growth of practical devices. The challenges of the built-in polarization fields can be circumvented by utilizing non-polar nitride heterostructures. Non-polar nitride structures may be achieved using either the cubic phase or the m-plane orientation of the wurzite phase. Near-infrared intersubband absorption in the cubic AlGaN/GaN has been observed, 15 and m-plane oriented We have already demonstrated molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of high-quality m-plane AlGaN/GaN superlattices. 17,18 In this study, the samples consist of 26 quantum wells (QWs) grown on free-standing m-plane

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“…Among them, traditional c-plane AlGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) structures are widely used. However, the polarization induced internal electric field reduces not only the ISB transition probability but also the photocurrent transportation, which significantly reduces the devices' performance.Some groups eliminated the influence of internal electric field by non-polar GaN based quantum structures [1] and cubic ones [2] . To overcome the poor growth quality of samples in these methods, we use step quantum wells (SQWs) structure in which the internal electric field is proved almost completely eliminated.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Some groups eliminated the influence of internal electric field by non-polar GaN based quantum structures [1] and cubic ones [2] . To overcome the poor growth quality of samples in these methods, we use step quantum wells (SQWs) structure in which the internal electric field is proved almost completely eliminated.…”

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confidence: 99%

Intersubband Transition in AlGaN/GaN step quantum wells at 3–5 μm

Rong

Wang

Chen

et al. 2014

Asia Communications and Photonics Conference 2014

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We demonstrate intersubband absorptions and photocurrent response at wavelength of 3-5μm in nitride-based semiconductor step quantum wells. The structures consist of a 1.8nm thick Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 N barrier, a 1.8nm thick GaN well and a 16nm thick Al 0.25 Ga 0.75 N step barrier. With this approach, one can create a virtually flat band potential energy profile in the step barrier layers, which is confirmed by analysing the temperature dependence dark current results.GaN based intersubband (ISB) devices has attracted much research attention due to the benefits of large conduction band offset, ultra-fast electron relaxation time, and UV-region capability. Among them, traditional c-plane AlGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) structures are widely used. However, the polarization induced internal electric field reduces not only the ISB transition probability but also the photocurrent transportation, which significantly reduces the devices' performance.Some groups eliminated the influence of internal electric field by non-polar GaN based quantum structures [1] and cubic ones [2] . To overcome the poor growth quality of samples in these methods, we use step quantum wells (SQWs) structure in which the internal electric field is proved almost completely eliminated. By this structure, we realized the detection with photoabsorption and photocurrent at wavelength of 3-5μm.We designed and grew Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 N/GaN/Al 0.25 Ga 0.75 N SQWs on c-plane sapphire substrate. The structure was designed based on solving self-consistent Schrödinger-Poisson equations. It shows that when we use a structure of Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 N/GaN/Al 0.25 Ga 0.75 N (1.8nm/1.8nm/16nm, barrier/well/step barrier) SQWs, the internal electric field of step barrier layer can be completely erased. The conduction band structure and energy levels of the designed structure are shown in Fig.1. There are several separated energy levels: the ground state (e 1 ) and the quasi-continuum states (e 2 -e 11 ). High resolution TEM (Fig.2) of the grown sample shows that each layer thickness is 7ML/6ML/65ML, respectively. By simulation of XRD diffraction peaks, we estimated the Al component of each layer, which is in accord with the designed structures.Afterwards the temperature dependence dark current is measured. It shows the symmetric IV characteristic dark current at high temperature (>100K) and the asymmetric one at low temperature. At high temperature, the ground state carriers jump up to quasi-continuum states by thermionic emission. The elimination of internal electric field at wide barrier layer results in the symmetric IV characteristic dark current if we ignore the influence of narrow barrier for it is narrow enough for tunneling. At low temperature, the ground state carriers are confined at the quantum wells.They are very hard to tunnel to the adjacent well at low bias because of the wide step barrier blocking, while they can tunnel at high bias. The asymmetric structure results in the asymmetric tunneling method, and then the asymmetric IV characteristic dark current....

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Non-polar m-plane intersubband based InGaN/(Al)GaN quantum well infrared photodetectors

Cited by 39 publications

References 20 publications

Intersubband transitions in nonpolar GaN/Al(Ga)N heterostructures in the short- and mid-wavelength infrared regions

Intersubband transitions in nonpolar GaN/Al(Ga)N heterostructures in the short- and mid-wavelength infrared regions

Terahertz intersubband absorption in non-polar m-plane AlGaN/GaN quantum wells

Intersubband Transition in AlGaN/GaN step quantum wells at 3–5 μm

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