Bias effect on the luminescent properties of rectangular and trapezoidal quantum-well structures

We have investigated the properties of two types of InGaN/GaN quantum-well (QW) structures. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements were carried out by varying the external bias voltage. The magnitude of the variation in PL peak position and intensity of trapezoid QWs (TQWs) is much smaller than that of rectangular QWs (RQWs). According to transmission electron microscopy measurements, quantum dots are more densely and uniformly distributed in TQWs than in RQWs. The electroluminescence image of a light-emitting diode fabricated using TQWs as active layers (TQW-LED) is more uniform than that of a light-emitting diode fabricated using RQWs as active layers (RQW-LED). Optical output power of a TQW-LED is larger than that of a RQW-LED. These results show that the origin of strong emission from InGaN/GaN QWs is attributed to exciton localization quantum dots, and InGaN/GaN TQWs are considered as active materials in order to increase performance in optoelectronic device. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.