Characterization of GaInN/GaN layers for green emitting laser diodes

An enhancement of radiative recombination in GaInN/GaN heterostructures is being pursued by a reduction of defects associated with threading dislocations and a structural control of piezoelectric polarization in the active light-emitting regions. First, in conventional heteroepitaxy on sapphire substrate along the polar c-axis of GaN, green and deep green emitting light-emitting diode (LED) wafers are being developed. By means of photoluminescence at variable low temperature and excitation density, internal quantum efficiencies of 0.18 for LEDs emitting at 530nm and 0.08 for those emitting at 555nm are determined. Those values hold for the high current density of 50A/cm2 of high-power LED lamps. In bare epi dies, we obtain efficacies of 16lm/W. At 780A/cm2 we obtain 22lm when measured through the substrate only. The 555nm LED epi material under pulsed photoexcitation shows stimulated emission up to a wavelength of 485nm. This strong blue shift of the emission wavelength can be avoided in homoepitaxial multiple quantum well (MQW) and LED structures grown along the non-polar a- and m-axes of low-dislocation-density bulk GaN. Here, wavelength-stable emission is obtained at 500 and 488nm, respectively, independent on excitation power density opening perspectives for visible laser diodes.