Electronic excitation induced structural and optical modifications in InGaN/GaN quantum well structures grown by MOCVD

The present study focuses on the electronic excitation induced structural and optical properties of InGaN/GaN quantum well (QW) structures grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition technique. These excitations were produced using Au7+ ion irradiation with 100 MeV energy. The X-ray rocking curves intensity and full width at half-maximum values corresponding to the planes of (0002) and (10-15) of the irradiated QW structures show the modifications in the screw and edge-type dislocation densities vary with the ion fluences. The structural characteristics using the reciprocal space mapping indicate the intermixing effects in InGaN/GaN QW structures. Atomic force microscopy images confirmed the presence of nanostructures and the surface modification due to heavy ion irradiation. The irradiated QW structures exhibited degraded photoluminescence intensity and a subsequent decrease in the yellow luminescence band intensity with the fluences of 1 x 10(11) and 5 x 10(12) ions/cm(2) compared to the pristine QW structures. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.