Hopping transport in the space-charge region of p-n structures with InGaN/GaN QWs as a source of excess 1/f noise and efficiency droop in LEDs

Semiconductors - It is shown that the emission efficiency and the 1/f noise level in light-emitting diodes with InGaN/GaN quantum wells correlate with how the differential resistance of a diode...     

Compact HLIF LiDAR for marine applications

The accidental discharge or accumulated pollution in seawater constitutes high risk of damage to the marine environment. Early detection of deviations in water quality allows taking preventive measures in order to minimize harmful influence of pollution or to implement adequate response actions before the pollution becomes a major spill. This requires regular monitoring of risk areas with effective, reliable, and economically sustainable solutions. The Hyperspectral Laser Induced Fluorescence (HLIF) LiDAR (light detection and ranging) combines highly sensitive and selective oil-in-water detection with characterization capabilities based on feature extraction and pattern recognition in HLIF spectra. Therefore, this technique is equally effective for oil detection in open and coastal waters. Operated in unattended mode as a payload of marine vehicles, it delivers the real-time analytical capabilities directly on site. This article describes the development of HLIF LiDAR and its application on board of operational vessels in the Norwegian Sea, Barents Sea, and the Baltic Sea during the period 2014–2015.     

High-voltage optoelectronic voltage converter using a cascade of tunnel-coupled p +-i-n + diodes

The idea of a semiconductor electrical voltage converter with optical coupling between the primary and secondary circuits is proposed. Despite its poor efficiency, this converter may prove effective in various specific applications. Pis’ma Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 24, 68–73 (November 12, 1998)     

Tunnel-recombination currents and electroluminescence efficiency in InGaN/GaN LEDs

The mechanism of injection loss in p-GaN/InGaN/n-GaN quantum-well LEDs is analyzed by studying the temperature and current dependences of external quantum efficiency in the temperature range 77–300 K and by measuring transient currents. The data obtained are interpreted in terms of a tunnel-recombination model of excess current, which involves electron tunneling through the potential barrier in n-GaN and the over-barrier thermal activation of holes in p-GaN. At a low forward bias, the dominant process is electron capture on the InGaN/p-GaN interface states. At a higher bias, the excess current sharply increases due to an increase in the density of holes on the InGaN/p-GaN interface and their recombination with the trapped electrons. The injection of carriers into the quantum well is limited by the tunnel-recombination current, which results in a decrease in efficiency at high current densities and low temperatures. The pinning of the Fermi level is attributed to the decoration of heterointerfaces, grain boundaries, and dislocations by impurity complexes.     

Effect of the electric field on the intensity and spectrum of emission from InGaN/GaN quantum wells

Comparative study of the photoluminescence (PL) from quantum wells (QWs) in forward-biased p-GaN/InGaN/n-GaN structures and electroluminescence from these structures has been carried out. It is shown that, upon application of a forward bias, a characteristic red shift of the spectral peak is observed, together with a broadening of the PL line and simultaneous burning-up of the PL. This results from a decrease in the field strength in the space charge region of the p-n junction and suppression of the tunneling leakage of the carrier from band-tail states in the active InGaN layer. An analysis of the results obtained demonstrated that the tunneling strongly affects the quantum efficiency and enabled evaluation of the internal quantum efficiency of the structures. It is shown that nonequilibrium population of band-tail states in InGaN/GaN QWs depends on the injection type and is controlled by the capture of carriers injected into a QW, in the case of optical injection, and by carrier tunneling “below” the QW under electrical injection.     

Femtosecond resonance enhanced CARS for background-free detection of organic molecules

We study the coherent excitation profile (CEP) of resonance enhanced femtosecond CARS in a model system zinc phthalocyanine in a polymer film host as a prospective technique for detection and identification of molecular species in ambient environments. A new method of suppressing the non-resonant FWM background is demonstrated. Transform theory is applied to calculate CEP based on the absorption spectrum, and good agreement between theory and experiment is obtained.     

Optical properties of blue light-emitting diodes in the InGaN/GaN system at high current densities

The current-voltage and brightness-voltage characteristics and the electroluminescence spectra of blue InGaN/GaN-based light-emitting diodes are studied to clarify the cause of the decrease in the emission efficiency at high current densities and high temperatures. It is found that the linear increase in the emission intensity with increasing injection current changes into a sublinear increase, resulting in a decrease in efficiency as the observed photon energy shifts from the mobility edge. The emission intensity decreases with increasing temperature when the photon energy approaches the mobility edge; this results in the reduction in efficiency on overheating. With increasing temperature, the peak of the electroluminescence spectrum shifts to lower photon energies because of the narrowing of the band gap. The results are interpreted taking into account the fact that the density-of-states tails in InGaN are filled not only via trapping of free charge carriers, but also via tunneling transitions into the tail states. The decrease in the emission efficiency at high currents is attributed to the suppression of tunneling injection and the enhancement of losses via the nonradiative recombination channel “under” the quantum well.