Investigation of wavelength-dependent efficiency droop in InGaN light-emitting diodes

• Published in: Applied physics. B, Lasers and optics Lasers and optics, 2010-03, Vol.98 (4), p.779-789
• Main Authors: Chen, J.-R., Wu, Y.-C., Ling, S.-C., Ko, T.-S., Lu, T.-C., Kuo, H.-C., Kuo, Y.-K., Wang, S.-C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Augers; Carriers; Electrostatic fields; Engineering; Gallium nitrides; Indium; Indium gallium nitrides; Lasers; Light-emitting diodes; Optical Devices; Optics; Photonics; Physical Chemistry; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Piezoelectricity; Quantum Optics
• ISSN: 0946-2171; 1432-0649
• DOI: 10.1007/s00340-009-3856-6

The physical mechanisms leading to the efficiency droop of InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are theoretically investigated. We first discuss the effect of Auger recombination loss on efficiency droop by taking different Auger coefficients into account. It is found that the Auger recombination process plays a significant nonradiative part for carriers at typical LED operation currents when the Auger coefficient is on the order of 10 −30  cm 6  s −1 . Furthermore, the InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well (MQW) LEDs with varied indium compositions in InGaN quantum wells are studied to analyze the wavelength-dependent efficiency droop. The simulation results show that the wavelength-dependent efficiency droop is caused by several different effects including non-uniform carrier distribution, electron overflow, built-in electrostatic field induced by spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization, and Auger recombination loss. These internal physical mechanisms are the critical factors resulting in the wavelength-dependent efficiency droop in InGaN/GaN MQW LEDs.