Accepted Manuscript

Suppression of recombination in waveguide in c-plane InGaN-based green laser

diodes

Yang Cheng, Jianping Liu, Liqun Zhang, Desheng Jiang, Aiqin Tian, Feng Zhang,
Meixin Feng, Pengyan Wen, Wei Zhou, Shuming Zhang, Masao Ikeda, Deyao Li, Hui Yang

PII: S0749-6036(17)31555-0

DOI: 10.1016/j.spmi.2017.08.005

Reference: YSPMI 5180

To appear in: Superlattices and Microstructures

Received Date: 26 June 2017

Revised Date: 03 August 2017

Accepted Date: 03 August 2017

Please cite this article as: Yang Cheng, Jianping Liu, Liqun Zhang, Desheng Jiang, Aiqin Tian,
Feng Zhang, Meixin Feng, Pengyan Wen, Wei Zhou, Shuming Zhang, Masao Ikeda, Deyao Li, Hui
Yang, Suppression of recombination in waveguide in c-plane InGaN-based green laser diodes,
Superlattices and Microstructures (2017), doi: 10.1016/j.spmi.2017.08.005

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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Suppression of recombination in waveguide in c-plane

InGaN-based green laser diodes
Yang Cheng a,b, Jianping Liu a,b,*, Liqun Zhang a,b, Desheng Jiang c, Aiqin Tian a,b, Feng Zhang a,b, Meixin Feng a,b,
Pengyan Wen a,b, Wei Zhou a,b, Shuming Zhang a,b, Masao Ikeda a,b, Deyao Li a,b, Hui Yang a,b

a School of Nano Technology and Nano Bionics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, P.
R. China
b Key Lab of Nanodevices and Applications, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy
of Sciences (CAS), Suzhou 215123, P. R. China
c State Key Laboratory on Integrated Optoelectronics, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100083, P. R. China

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: jpliu2010@sinano.ac.cn. Address: 398
Ruoshui Road , Suzhou 215123, China.

Abstract
Recombination in InGaN upper waveguide in c-plane InGaN-based green laser diodes (LDs) has been
investigated by both simulation and experiments. It is found that a potential barrier located at the interface
between GaN last barrier and InGaN upper waveguide layer causes strong recombination in InGaN upper
waveguide layer and lowers the carrier injection efficiency of InGaN-based green LDs when In content
is higher than 4%. A suitable reduction of indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer can effectively
suppress recombination in waveguide and thus reduce the threshold current of green LDs.

1. Introduction

In recent years, great attention has been paid on the research of InGaN-based green LDs and
remarkable progresses have been achieved[1-12]. However, the performance of InGaN-based green LDs
still need to be improved, for example, to meet the demand of laser display. Carrier injection efficiency
is one of the most important parameters for LDs since it has a great influence on the threshold current
density and slope efficiency. Hager et al.[13] found that the slope efficiency of InGaN-based green LDs
decreases with injection current. Actually, it has been reported that large amounts of holes can overflow
from green active region and recombine in the layer below green active region, and thus lower the carrier
injection efficiency of InGaN-based green LDs[14, 15]. On the contrary, little attention has been paid on
the recombination in the layer above the green active region. An unintentionally doped InGaN layer is
usually used as upper waveguide layer inserted between active region and the p-layers in InGaN-based
LDs[16-23]. As GaN quantum barrier layer is widely used to suppress indium surface segregation[12], a
potential barrier exists at the interface between GaN last barrier and InGaN upper waveguide layer.
Carriers may be confined and recombine in upper waveguide layer due to this potential barrier, and thus
lower the carrier injection efficiency of InGaN-based green LDs.
In this article, we study the recombination in the upper waveguide layer and find that a large amount
of carriers can recombine in InGaN upper waveguide layer at high current density (>1000 A/cm2). A
suitable lowering of indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer is an effective method to suppress
recombination in InGaN upper waveguide and improve LD performance. The optimal indium content in
InGaN upper waveguide layer is suggested to be about 3%.
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2. Device structure and numerical simulation

Fig. 1(a) shows the layer structure of green LD studied in this article. It consists of a GaN:Si (1×1018
/cm3) layer, an AlGaN:Si (1×1018 /cm3) lower cladding layer, an InGaN:Si (3×1018 /cm3) lower
waveguide layer, a green active region with double InGaN/GaN quantum wells, an unintentionally doped
InGaN upper waveguide layer, an AlGaN:Mg (2×1019 /cm3) electron blocking layer (EBL), an
AlGaN:Mg (1×1019 /cm3) upper cladding layer and a p-contact (1×1020 /cm3) layer. The indium content
in InGaN lower waveguide layer is 6%, while that in InGaN upper waveguide layer varies from 2% to
6%. Carrier distribution and recombination properties are calculated by commercial APSYS software.
Considering the compensation by free carriers, defects, and other interface charges, 50% of the
theoretical value for polarization charges was used in the simulation. The device temperature and current
density used in the simulation is set to be 300 K and 2000 A/cm2, respectively. Here we define a
parameter R as follows:
𝐼𝑊𝐺
R=
𝐼𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
IWG is current density recombined in InGaN upper waveguide layer, while ITotal is total current density of
the LD.

3. Results and discussion

Fig. 1(b) shows the simulated valence band diagram of this LD structure at a current density of 2000
A/cm2 when the indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer varies from 2% to 6%. The dashed
lines represent hole quasi-Fermi level. There is a potential barrier at the interface between GaN last
barrier and InGaN upper waveguide layer. The potential barrier height increases with increasing indium
content in InGaN upper waveguide layer.
Fig. 1(c) shows the total potential barrier where holes in InGaN upper waveguide layer need to
overcome before reaching the green double quantum wells. When the indium content in InGaN upper
waveguide layer increases from 2% to 6%, the potential barrier height increases from 119 meV to 214
meV, which results in that more holes are confined in InGaN upper waveguide layer.
Fig. 1(d) shows the vertical hole current density versus position when indium content in InGaN upper
waveguide layer is changed. It is obvious that the current density recombined in InGaN upper waveguide
layer increases with increasing indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer. As a result, R value
increases and carrier injection efficiency decreases, just as shown in the inset of Fig. 1(d). It is noticed
that the recombination in InGaN upper waveguide layer is negligible (R<0.05) when the indium content
is about 3% or below.
Fig. 1(e) shows the optical confinement factor of laser diodes as a function of indium content in InGaN
upper waveguide layer. Actually, the optical confinement will be reduced when lowering the indium
content in InGaN upper waveguide layer. Considering the effect on both optical confinement and
recombination in waveguide, the optimal indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer is suggested
to be about 3%.
In addition, to investigate the influence of current density on the recombination in InGaN upper
waveguide and the performance of LDs, we fix the indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer at
5% and do another simulation calculation. The results are shown as Fig. 1(f). With increasing current
density, the hole concentration at the bottom of InGaN upper waveguide layer (adjacent to GaN last
barrier) increases rapidly and exceeds 1×1018 /cm3 at current density higher than 1000 A/cm2. At the
same time, R increases and becomes non-negligible (>5%) at a current density higher than 1000 A/cm2.
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The carrier injection efficiency is nearly unity at current density lower than 500 A/cm2. However, it
decreases rapidly at current density higher than 500 A/cm2. Since green LDs usually operate at current
densities higher than 1500 A/cm2, it means that the performance of LD may degrade seriously due to the
recombination in InGaN upper waveguide layer.

Fig.1 (a) A schematic illustration of layer structure of InGaN-based green LD. (b) Simulated valence band diagram of LD with
various indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer. (c) Potential barrier height for holes to overcome when they transfer from
InGaN upper waveguide layer to quantum well region and the hole concentration at the bottom of InGaN upper waveguide layer
(adjacent to the GaN last barrier) when Indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer changes from 2% to 6%. (d) Simulated
vertical hole current density versus position when Indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer changes. The inset shows the
R value and carrier injection efficiency Vs Indium content of InGaN upper waveguide layer. (e) Optical confinement factor as a
function of indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer. (f) The current density dependencies of hole concentration at the
bottom of InGaN upper waveguide layer, R value, and carrier injection efficiency when the indium content in InGaN upper
waveguide layer is set to be 5%. The current density used in the simulation of Fig. 1(a)-1(e) is set to be 2000 A/cm2.

To examine our simulation, two similar LD samples named A and B based on the layer structure
described in Fig. 1(a) were grown by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). The indium content
in InGaN upper waveguide layer of sample A and B is 5.2% and 3.7%, respectively. The samples A and
B were then fabricated into 10 μm ridge waveguide LD chip by conventional lithography and lift-off
technique. The 800 μm cavity length was formed by cleaving, and then the front and rear facets were
coated with dielectric films to reach a reflectivity of 70% and 95%, respectively. Part of the N-electrode
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was removed by Ion Beam Etching (IBE) so that electroluminescence emitted from the substrate can be
collected by the spectrometer placed at the N-side of the LD chip.
Fig. 2(a) and 2(b) shows the experimental electroluminescence (EL) spectra of LD chips from sample
A and B at various current densities, respectively. The spectra show two emission peaks. One is ultra-
violet emission (peaked about at 388 nm and 380 nm) and the other is green emission (peaked about at
520 nm). They originate from InGaN upper waveguide layer and green double quantum wells,
respectively. The contribution of InGaN lower waveguide layer to ultra-violet emission is negligible
since heavily silicon-doped InGaN lower waveguide layer can effectively suppress hole overflow from
green double quantum wells[14]. It should be mentioned that in the figures the wavelength scale of ultra-
violet emission is different from that of green one. and the FWHM of ultra-violet emissions is actually
much narrower than that of green emissions. Fig. 2(c) shows the integrated intensity ratio of ultra-violet
emission peak over the green emission peak. For sample A, the ratio is 10.3% at the current density of
1000 A/cm2, and increases to 48.9% at the current density of 2500 A/cm2. For sample B, the ratio is
lower, it is only 4.1% even at the high current density of 2500 A/cm2. The result indicates that, compared
with sample A, the radiative recombination in InGaN upper waveguide layer in sample B ( which has a
relatively low In content of InGaN waveguide layer of 3.7%) is much lower. This experimental result is
consistent with the simulation result shown in Fig. 1(d) and 1(e).

Fig. 2(a) and (b) Experimental electroluminescence spectra of LD chips of samples A and B at various current densities. (c) The
relative integrated intensity of ultra-violet emission peak compared to that of green emission peak measured at various current
densities for samples A and B. The indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer of samples A and B is 5.2% and 3.7%,
respectively.

Fig. 3 shows the output power- current density (P-I) curves of two LD chips from samples A and B,
respectively. The output power measurement was done under pulsed operation at room temperature, with
a pulsed width of 400 ns and a repetition frequency of 10 kHz to eliminate self-heating effect. The LD
chip from sample A lases at current density of 3.8 kA/cm2, while the LD chip from sample B lases at
current density of 3.0 kA/cm2. The slope efficiency of the LD chip from sample A and sample B are 0.09
W/A and 0.23 W/A, respectively. The lower lasing threshold and higher slope efficiency of sample B is
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attributed to the suppression of recombination in InGaN upper waveguide layer when a relatively low In
content is taken for the waveguide layer.

Fig. 3 Output power- Current density curves of LD chips from samples A and B under pulsed operation.

4. Conclusions

In summary, it is found that according to the analysis, a potential barrier exists at the interface between
GaN last barrier and InGaN upper waveguide layer. A large amount of carriers are confined and
recombine in InGaN upper waveguide layer due to this potential barrier when current density is higher
than 1000 A/cm2. A suitable lowering the indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer is an effective
way to reduce the potential barrier and suppress the waveguide recombination, and thus improve the
InGaN-based green LD performance. The optimal indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer is
suggested to be about 3%.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Key R&D Program of China (Grant Nos. 2016YFB0401803,
2016YFB0402002), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61574160,
61334005), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Science (Grant No.
XDA09020401), the Chinese Academy of Science Visiting Professorship for Senior International
Scientists (Grant No. 2013T2J0048), CPSF-CAS Joint Foundation for Excellent Postdoctoral Fellows
(Grant No. 2016LH0026).

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 The recombination in InGaN upper waveguide layer was investigated by both simulation and
experiments.
 The potential barrier located at the interface between GaN last barrier and InGaN upper
waveguide layer was found to be the origin of recombination in waveguide.
 A suitable reduction of indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer can effectively
suppress recombination in waveguide and improve laser diode performance.