The microstructure of non-polar a-plane (11 2¯0) InGaN quantum wells

Atom probe tomography and quantitative scanning transmission electron microscopy are used to assess the composition of non-polar a-plane (11-20) InGaN quantum wells for applications in optoelectronics. The average quantum well composition measured by atom probe tomography and quantitative scanning t...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Griffiths, J, Oehler, F, Tang, F, Zhang, S, Fu, W, Zhu, T, Findlay, S, Zheng, C, Etheridge, J, Martin, T, Bagot, P, Moody, M, Sutherland, D, Dawson, P, Kappers, M, Humphreys, C, Oliver, R
Format: Journal article
Published: AIP Publishing 2016
Description
Summary:Atom probe tomography and quantitative scanning transmission electron microscopy are used to assess the composition of non-polar a-plane (11-20) InGaN quantum wells for applications in optoelectronics. The average quantum well composition measured by atom probe tomography and quantitative scanning transmission electron microscopy quantitatively agrees with measurements by X-ray diffraction. Atom probe tomography is further applied to study the distribution of indium atoms in non-polar a-plane (11-20) InGaN quantum wells. An inhomogeneous indium distribution is observed by frequency distribution analysis of the atom probe tomography measurements. The optical properties of non-polar (11-20) InGaN quantum wells with indium compositions varying from 7.9% to 20.6% are studied. In contrast to non-polar m-plane (1-100) InGaN quantum wells, the non-polar a-plane (11-20) InGaN quantum wells emit at longer emission wavelengths at the equivalent indium composition. The non-polar a-plane (11-20) quantum wells also show broader spectral linewidths. The longer emission wavelengths and broader spectral linewidths may be related to the observed inhomogeneous indium distribution.