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We present a mechanism for the vertical leakage induced current degradation with identification of the properties of the relevant traps in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures on Si. The extent of the current degradation is determined by back-gating sweep measurements in double directions at different sweep rates and temperatures. It is found that the current degradation is only observed at relatively slow sweep rates and high temperatures. Time dependent back-gating measurements further suggest that the current degradation process is related to traps with long time constants. By comparing with the measurement results of samples on sapphire substrates, we confirm that the current degradation is caused by vertical leakage in heterostructures on Si. On the basis of the vertical leakage induced current degradation mechanism and in conjunction with the long-time degradation process, we measure both the trapping and detrapping processes of the relevant trap states to identify their properties. We find that there is a 0.6 eV capture barrier and a 0.67 eV emission barrier for the trap states, indicating that the trap states are of large lattice relaxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the stimulated emission related anomalous behavior of electrical parameters in GaN-based laser diodes based on both experiments and self-consistent calculations. In particular, the separation of quasi-Fermi levels of electrons and holes across active region shows a drop (or 'pinning') in threshold region, followed by an increase with current. The start and end points correspond to the two kink points of the first derivative of the optical output power-current (P-I) curve. This abnormal change of electrical parameters always satisfies the need of sufficient carriers for stimulated emission in the process of transition to lasing as well as lasing enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AlN layer was grown as interlayer between undoped GaN and Mg doped Al0.14Ga0.86N/GaN superlattices (SLs) epilayer to modulate the strain distribution between Al0.14Ga0.86N barrier and GaN well layers in SLs sample. Strain relaxation was observed in the SLs sample with AlN interlayer by x-ray diffraction reciprocal space mapping method. The measured hole concentration of SLs sample with AlN interlayer at room temperature was over 1.6×1018 cm-3 but that was only 6.6×1016 cm-3 obtained in SLs sample without AlN interlayer. Variable temperature Hall-effect measurement showed that the acceptor activation energy decreased from 150 to 70 meV after inserting the AlN layer, which indicated that the strain modulation of SLs induced by AlN interlayer was beneficial to the Mg acceptor activation and hole concentration enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polarization-resolved edge-emitting electroluminescence of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) light emitting diodes (LEDs) from 395 to 455 nm was measured. Polarization ratio decreased from 3.2 of near-ultraviolet LEDs (395 nm) to 1.9 of blue LEDs (455 nm). Based on TE mode dominant emissions in InGaN/GaN MQWs, compressive strain in well region favors TE mode, indium induced quantum-dot-like behavior leads to an increased TM component. As wavelength increased, indium enhanced quantum-dot-like behavior became obvious and E∥C electroluminescence signal increased thus lower polarization ratio. Electroluminescence spectrum shifts confirmed that quantum dotlike behaviors rather than strain might be dominant in modifying luminescence mode of InGaN/GaN MQWs from near ultraviolet to blue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]