Anomalous temperature dependence of photoluminescence in self-assembled InGaN quantum dots

Self-assembled InGaN quantum dots (QDs) were fabricated by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Abnormal temperature dependence of photoluminescence (PL) was observed. The integrated PL intensity of QDs sample shows a dramatic increase in a temperature range from 160 K to 215 K and reaches the maximum value at 215 K instead of 10 K as usual. To interpret this phenomenon, a theoretic model of temperature induced carrier redistribution mechanism is designed using rate equation, which fits closely with the experimental result. It is concluded that carriers' redistribution from shallow QDs or wetting layer to deep QDs gives rise to the unique behavior for InGaN QDs structure. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4754533]