Field-assisted Shockley-Read-Hall recombinations in III-Nitride quantum wells

TL;DR

This paper investigates the physical mechanisms behind low-current non-radiative recombinations in III-Nitride quantum wells, revealing a field-assisted multiphonon process that explains their high efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces a quantitative model of field-assisted Shockley-Read-Hall recombination in quantum wells, advancing understanding of non-radiative processes in III-Nitride materials.

Findings

Recombination rates scale with electron-hole wavefunction overlap.

Recombination shows weak temperature dependence.

The proposed model accurately explains experimental data.

Abstract

The physical process driving low-current non-radiative recombinations in high-quality III-Nitride quantum wells is investigated. Lifetime measurements reveal that these recombinations scale with the overlap of the electron and hole wavefunctions and show weak temperature dependence, in contrast with common empirical expectations for Shockley-Read-Hall recombinations. A model of field-assisted multiphonon point defect recombination in quantum wells is introduced, and shown to quantitatively explain the data. This study provides insight on the high efficiency of III-Nitride light emitters.