The quantum efficiency of AlGaN ultraviolet light-emitting diodes declines (droops) at increasing operating powers due to Auger–Meitner recombination (AMR). Using first-principles density-functional theory, we show that indirect AMR mediated by electron–phonon coupling and alloy disorder can induce bulk C coefficients as large as cm6/s. Furthermore, we find that the confinement of carriers by polarization fields within quantum wells severely relaxes crystal-momentum conservation, which exacerbates the rate of AMR over radiative recombination by an order of magnitude relative to the bulk. This results in a striking decrease in quantum efficiency at high power. Suppressing polarization fields and jointly increasing the well width would greatly mitigate AMR and efficiency droop.
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8 July 2024
Research Article|
July 11 2024
Carrier confinement and alloy disorder exacerbate Auger–Meitner recombination in AlGaN ultraviolet light-emitting diodes
Nick Pant
;
Nick Pant
a)
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
1
Applied Physics Program, University of Michigan
, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
2
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan
, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
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Kyle Bushick
;
Kyle Bushick
(Data curation, Investigation, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
2
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan
, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
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Andrew McAllister
;
Andrew McAllister
(Investigation, Software, Writing – review & editing)
1
Applied Physics Program, University of Michigan
, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
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Woncheol Lee
;
Woncheol Lee
(Data curation, Writing – review & editing)
3
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan
, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
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Chris G. Van de Walle
;
Chris G. Van de Walle
(Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing)
4
Materials Department, University of California
, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
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Emmanouil Kioupakis
Emmanouil Kioupakis
a)
(Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Resources, Software, Writing – review & editing)
2
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan
, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
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Appl. Phys. Lett. 125, 021109 (2024)
Article history
Received:
March 17 2024
Accepted:
July 02 2024
Citation
Nick Pant, Kyle Bushick, Andrew McAllister, Woncheol Lee, Chris G. Van de Walle, Emmanouil Kioupakis; Carrier confinement and alloy disorder exacerbate Auger–Meitner recombination in AlGaN ultraviolet light-emitting diodes. Appl. Phys. Lett. 8 July 2024; 125 (2): 021109. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0208840
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