Design and characteristic study of electron blocking layer free AlInN nanowire deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes

TL;DR

This paper presents the first AlInN nanowire deep ultraviolet LEDs without electron blocking layers, demonstrating higher efficiency and power compared to AlGaN devices, with detailed analysis and simulation insights.

Contribution

It introduces a novel EBL-free AlInN nanowire DUV LED design with superior efficiency and power, supported by comprehensive simulation and experimental analysis.

Findings

AlInN nanowire LEDs show no efficiency droop up to 1500 A/cm2

Transverse magnetic emission is ~5 orders stronger than transverse electric at 238 nm

Multiple QWs reduce performance due to non-uniform carrier distribution

Abstract

We report on the illustration of the first electron blocking layer (EBL) free AlInN nanowire light-emitting diodes (LEDs) operating in the deep ultraviolet (DUV) wavelength region (sub-250 nm). We have systematically analyzed the results using APSYS software and compared with simulated AlGaN nanowire DUV LEDs. From the simulation results, significant efficiency droop was observed in AlGaN based devices, attributed to the significant electron leakage. However, compared to AlGaN nanowire DUV LEDs at similar emission wavelength, the proposed single quantum well (SQW) AlInN based light-emitters offer higher internal quantum efficiency without droop up to current density of 1500 A/cm2 and high output optical power. Moreover, we find that transverse magnetic polarized emission is ~ 5 orders stronger than transverse electric polarized emission at 238 nm wavelength. Further research shows that the performance of the AlInN DUV nanowire LEDs decreases with multiple QWs in the active region due to the presence of the non-uniform carrier distribution in the active region. This study provides important insights on the design of new type of high performance AlInN nanowire DUV LEDs, by replacing currently used AlGaN semiconductors.