Optical absorption and oxygen passivation of surface states in III-nitride photonic devices

III-nitride surface states are expected to impact high surface-to-volume ratio devices, such as nano- and micro-wire light-emitting diodes, transistors, and photonic integrated circuits. In this work, reversible photoinduced oxygen desorption from III-nitride microdisk resonator surfaces is shown to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied physics 2018-03, Vol.123 (11)
Main Authors: Rousseau, Ian, Callsen, Gordon, Jacopin, Gwénolé, Carlin, Jean-François, Butté, Raphaël, Grandjean, Nicolas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed Matter
Engineering Sciences
Materials Science
Micro and nanotechnologies
Microelectronics
Optics
Photonic
Physics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:III-nitride surface states are expected to impact high surface-to-volume ratio devices, such as nano- and micro-wire light-emitting diodes, transistors, and photonic integrated circuits. In this work, reversible photoinduced oxygen desorption from III-nitride microdisk resonator surfaces is shown to increase optical attenuation of whispering gallery modes by 100 cm−1 at λ = 450 nm. Comparison of photoinduced oxygen desorption in unintentionally and n+-doped microdisks suggests that the spectral changes originate from the unpinning of the surface Fermi level, likely taking place at etched nonpolar III-nitride sidewalls. An oxygen-rich surface prepared by thermal annealing results in a broadband Q improvement to state-of-the-art values exceeding 1 × 104 at 2.6 eV. Such findings emphasize the importance of optically active surface states and their passivation for future nanoscale III-nitride optoelectronic and photonic devices.
ISSN:0021-8979
1089-7550
DOI:10.1063/1.5022150