Nano Trends (Mar 2025)

Swift heavy ion irradiation puts InGaN/GaN multi-quantum wells on the track for efficient green light emission

  • M. Sall,
  • G. Sow,
  • A. Baillard,
  • A. Dujarrier,
  • L. Goodwin,
  • J.G. Mattei,
  • M. Sequeira,
  • M. Peres,
  • P. Loiko,
  • Y. Doublet,
  • M.P. Chauvat,
  • C.A.P. da Costa,
  • P. Boduch,
  • H. Rothard,
  • A. Braud,
  • B. Damilano,
  • K. Lorenz,
  • C. Grygiel,
  • E. Balanzat,
  • I. Monnet

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9
p. 100078

Abstract

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InN and InGaN/GaN multi-quantum wells (MQWs) were subjected to Swift Heavy Ion (SHI) irradiation. Ion track formation was studied using transmission electron microscopy in both plane view and cross-sectional modes. InN shows a remarkable sensitivity towards track formation with a material decomposition experimentally evidenced by means of Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy. The MQWs material shows higher stability with negligible GaN/InGaN interface intermixing along the SHI tracks. This intermixing, proposed for mitigating polarization effects in InGaN/GaN-based light emitting diodes (LED), was achieved by track-free SHI irradiation. This was combined with low temperature thermal treatment at 450 °C with the aim to both create a compositional gradient at the MQWs interfaces and preserving the material luminescence. The obtained results pave the way for the use of SHI irradiation for efficient green light emission of InGaN/GaN-based LED.

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