Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Monte Carlo study of non-quasiequilibrium carrier dynamics in III–N LEDs

  • Published:
Optical and Quantum Electronics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Hot carrier effects have been observed in recent measurements of III–Nitride (III–N) light-emitting diodes. In this paper we carry out bipolar Monte Carlo simulations for electrons and holes in a typical III–N multi-quantum well (MQW) LED. According to our simulations, significant non-quasiequilibrium carrier distributions exist in the barrier layers of the structure. This is observed as average carrier energies much larger than the \(1.5k_BT\) corresponding to quasi-equilibrium. Due to the small potential drop over the MQW being modest, the non-quasiequilibrium carriers can be predominantly ascribed to nnp and npp Auger processes taking place in the QWs. Further investigations are needed to determine the effects of hot carriers on the macroscopic device characteristics of real devices.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bertazzi, F., Goano, M., Zhou, X., Calciati, M., Ghione, G., Matsubara, M., Bellotti, E.: Looking for Auger signatures in III–nitride light emitters: a full-band Monte Carlo perspective. Appl. Phys. Lett. 106, 061112 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Binder, M., Nirschl, A., Zeisel, R., Hager, T., Lugauer, H.-J., Sabathil, M., Bougeard, D., Wagner, J., Galler, B.: Identification of nnp and npp Auger recombination as significant contributor to the efficiency droop in (GaIn)N quantum wells by visualization of hot carriers in photoluminescence. Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 071108 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Deppner, M., Römer, F., Witzigmann, B.: Auger carrier leakage in III–nitride quantum-well light emitting diodes. Phys. Status Solidi RRL 6, 418–420 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heikkilä, O., Oksanen, J., Tulkki, J.: Ultimate limit and temperature dependency of light-emitting diode efficiency. J. Appl. Phys. 105, 093119 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Iveland, J., Piccardo, M., Martinelli, L., Peretti, J., Choi, J.W., Young, N., Nakamura, S., Speck, J.S., Weisbuch, C.: Origin of electrons emitted into vacuum from InGaN light emitting diodes. Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 052103 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Jacoboni, C., Reggiani, L.: The Monte Carlo method for the solution of charge transport in semiconductors with applications to covalent materials. Rev. Mod. Phys. 55, 645 (1983)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Kivisaari, P., Oksanen, J., Tulkki, J.: Polarization doping and the efficiency of III–nitride optoelectronic devices. Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 211118 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Kivisaari, P., Oksanen, J., Tulkki, J., Sadi, T.: Monte Carlo simulation of hot carrier transport in III–N LEDs. J. Comput. Electron. 14, 382–397 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kivisaari, P., Oksanen, J., Tulkki, J., Sadi, T.: Bipolar Monte Carlo simulation of electrons and holes in III–N LEDs. Proc. SPIE 9363, 93631S (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, Z.M.S.: Non-local transport in numerical simulation of GaN LED. J. Comput. Electron. 14, 409–415 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura, S., Krames, M.: History of Gallium–Nitride-based light-emitting diodes for illumination. Proc. IEEE 101, 2211–2220 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piprek, J.: How to decide between competing efficiency droop models for GaN-based light-emitting diodes. Appl. Phys. Lett. 107, 031101 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Piprek, J., Römer, F., Witzigmann, B.: On the uncertainty of the Auger recombination coefficient extracted from InGaN/GaN light-emitting diode efficiency droop measurements. Appl. Phys. Lett. 106, 101101 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Römer, F., Witzigmann, B.: Acceptor impurity activation in III–nitride light emitting diodes. Appl. Phys. Lett. 106, 021107 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Ridley, B.K.: Quantum Processes in Semiconductors. Clarendon Press, Oxford (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadi, T., Kelsall, R.W., Pilgrim, N.J.: Investigation of self-heating effects in submicrometer GaN/AlGaN HEMTs using an electrothermal Monte Carlo method. IEEE Trans. Electron. Dev. 53, 2892–2900 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Sadi, T., Kelsall, R.W.: Hot-phonon effect on the electrothermal behavior of submicrometer III–V HEMTs. IEEE Electron. Device Lett. 28, 787–789 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Sadi, T., Kivisaari, P., Oksanen, J., Tulkki, J.: On the correlation of the Auger generated hot electron emission and efficiency droop in III–N light-emitting diodes. Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 091106 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Sadi, T., Kivisaari, P., Oksanen, J., Tulkki, J.: Microscopic simulation of hot electron transport in III–N light-emitting diodes. Opt. Quantum Electron. 47, 1509–1518 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, T.-J., Shivaraman, R., Speck, J.S., Wu, Y.-R.: The influence of random indium alloy fluctuations in indium gallium nitride quantum wells on the device behavior. J. Appl. Phys. 116, 113104 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the financial support from the Nokia Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, and the Aalto Energy Efficiency Research Programme.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Solid State Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Pyry Kivisaari

  2. School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Toufik Sadi

  3. School of Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

    Jani Oksanen & Jukka Tulkki

Authors
  1. Pyry Kivisaari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Toufik Sadi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jani Oksanen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jukka Tulkki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pyry Kivisaari.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Numerical Simulation of Optoelectronic Devices, NUSOD’ 15.

Guest edited by Julien Javaloyes, Weida Hu, Slawek Sujecki and Yuh-Renn Wu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kivisaari, P., Sadi, T., Oksanen, J. et al. Monte Carlo study of non-quasiequilibrium carrier dynamics in III–N LEDs. Opt Quant Electron 48, 154 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-016-0406-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-016-0406-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation