Quantum-confined Stark effect and mechanisms of its screening in InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes with a tunnel junction

Nitride-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) arc well known to suffer from a high built-in electric field in the quantum wells (QWs). In this paper we determined to what extent the electric field is screened by injected current. In our approach we used high pressure to study this evolution. In LEDs with a narrow QW (2.6 nm) we found that even at a high injection current a large portion of built-in field remains. In LEDs with very wide QWs (15 and 25 nm) the electric field is fully screened even at the lowest currents. Furthermore, we examined LEDs with a tunnel junction in two locations - above and below the active region. This allowed us to study the cases of parallel and antiparallel fields in the well and in the barriers. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

This study investigates the impact of injected current on the screening of the built-in electric field in LEDs, revealing that in LEDs with narrow quantum wells, a large portion of built-in field remains even at high injection currents, while in LEDs with wide quantum wells, the electric field is fully screened even at the lowest currents.