Optical investigation of semi-polar (11-22) Al_xGa_1-xN with high Al composition

Exciton localization generally disturbs uniform population inversion, leading to an increase in the threshold current for lasing. High Al content AlGaN is required for the fabrication of deep ultra-violet (DUV) laser diodes (LDs), and this also generates exciton localization. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence and room temperature cathodoluminescence measurements have been performed on high quality semi-polar (11-22) Al_xGa_1-xN alloys with high Al composition ranging from 0.37 to 0.56 in order to systematically study the optical properties (in particular, exciton localization) of both the near-band-edge emission and the basal-plane stacking faults related emission, demonstrating different behaviours. Further comparison with the exciton localization of their c-plane counterparts has been performed, exhibiting that the exciton localization in semi-polar (11-22) AlGaN is much smaller than that in c-plane AlGaN. As a consequence, semi-polar (11-22) AlGaN demonstrates a greater potential than its c-plane counterpart in terms of the growth of DUV LDs.