Engineering topics

Tak, Tanay

Publications and source records attributed to Tak, Tanay.

4 records

DOE OSTI2024

Investigation of the cesium activation of Ga⁢N photocathodes by low-energy electron microscopy

Low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM) was performed on p-Ga⁢N samples during in situ cesium deposition. LEEM images of electron reflectivity recorded as a function of the incident electron energy at different Cs coverages allowed to spatially resolve the evolution of the local work function (WF) during the activation process. While the average WF drops by more than 3 eV, the local WF remains quite uniform across the surface throughout the activation process. Maximum fluctuations of less than 0.2 eV were observed in the WF maps for Cs coverage of a fraction of a monolayer. These fluctuations are mainly related to the surface topography, in particular, to the atomic steps’ structure, which replicates the substrate miscut. Apart from these weak spatial fluctuations, no Cs clusters that would induce strong local WF contrast were observed at the scale of the 20-nm resolution of the measurements. These observations agree with the simple model of semiconductor activation to negative electron affinity that describes the formation of a dipole layer as responsible for the lowering of the WF. Additionally, at complete Cs coverage, the WF becomes fully homogeneous over the surface, smoothing out features originating from defects and topography.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2024

Properties of V-defect injectors in long wavelength GaN LEDs studied by near-field electro- and photoluminescence

The efficiency of multiple quantum well (QW) light emitting diodes (LEDs) to a large degree depends on uniformity of hole distribution between the QWs. Typically, transport between the QWs takes place via carrier capture into and thermionic emission out of the QWs. In InGaN/GaN QWs, the thermionic hole transport is hindered by the high quantum confinement and polarization barriers. To overcome this drawback, hole injection through semipolar QWs located at sidewalls of V-defects had been proposed. However, in the case of the V-defect injection, strong lateral emission variations take place. In this work, we explore the nature of these variations and the impact of the V-defects on the emission spectra and carrier dynamics. The study was performed by mapping electroluminescence (EL) and photoluminescence (PL) with a scanning near-field optical microscope in LEDs that contain a deeper well that can only be populated by holes through the V-defects. Applying different excitation schemes (electrical injection and optical excitation in the far- and near-field), we have shown that the EL intensity variations are caused by the lateral nonuniformity of the hole injection. We have also found that, in biased structures, the PL intensity and decay time in the V-defect regions are only moderately lower that in the V-defect-free regions thus showing no evidence of an efficient Shockley-–Read–Hall recombination. In the V-defect regions, the emission spectra experience a red shift and increased broadening, which suggests an increase of the In content and well width in the polar QWs close to the V-defects.

Electroluminescence↗

DOE OSTI2024

Dislocation half-loop control for optimal V-defect density in GaN-based light emitting diodes

V-defects are morphological defects that typically form on threading dislocations during epitaxial growth of $(0001)$-oriented GaN layers. A V-defect is a hexagonal pyramid-shaped depression with six {$10\bar{1}1$}-oriented sidewalls. These semipolar sidewalls have a lower polarization barrier than the polarization barriers present between the polar c-plane quantum wells and quantum barriers and can laterally inject carriers directly into quantum wells in GaN-based light emitting diodes (LEDs). This is especially important, as the high polarization field in c-plane GaN is a significant factor in the high forward voltage of GaN LEDs. The optimal V-defect density for efficient lateral carrier injection in a GaN LED (∼10 9 cm −2 ) is typically an order of magnitude higher than the threading dislocation density of GaN grown on patterned sapphire substrates (∼10 8 cm −2 ). Pure-edge dislocation loops have been known to exist in GaN, and their formation into large V-defects via low-temperature growth with high Si-doping has recently been studied. Here, in this work, we develop a method for pure-edge threading dislocation half-loop formation and density control via disilane flow, growth temperature, and thickness of the half-loop generation layer. We also develop a method of forming the threading dislocation half-loops into V-defects of comparable size to those originating from substrate threading dislocations.

Crystallographic defects↗

DOE OSTI2024

Carrier diffusion in long wavelength InGaN quantum well LEDs after injection through V-defects

The efficiency of operation of GaN-based light emitting diodes (LEDs) to a large degree relies on realization of a uniform hole distribution between multiple quantum wells (QWs) of the active region. Since the direct thermionic transport between the QWs is inefficient, the hole injection through semipolar {$10\bar{1}1$} QWs that form on the facets of V-defects has been suggested as an alternative approach. However, for an efficient LED operation, the carrier distribution should be uniform not only vertically, between the QWs but also laterally, within individual QWs. In this work, the lateral carrier distribution in long wavelength InGaN/GaN QW LEDs is studied by the scanning near-field optical microscopy. The measurements have shown that emission is concentrated around the V-defect injectors. At high currents, the diffusion length of holes in polar QWs was found to be ∼0.6–1 μm and the hole diffusion coefficient ∼0.6 cm 2 /s. The obtained data should aid design of the V-defect injectors for a laterally uniform carrier distribution in the active region QWs.

Current crowding↗