Effect of Auger recombination on thermal processes in InGaAs and InAsSbP IR-emitting diodes

Abstract

We investigated IR-emitting diodes (IREDs) based on the lattice-mismatched structures with stressed InGaAs/InAs layers and on near-matched InAsSbP/InAs structures. The emission wavelength range was from 2.5 to 5.0 lm. Both the processes of excess energy relaxation and mechanisms responsible for the active area overheating were studied. For In1ÿxGaxAs-based IREDs, it was shown that the active area overheat temperature, DT, is related to the Auger recombination processes. When x is increased from 0 to 0.09, the Auger recombination e ciency decreases, thus, favoring an abrupt drop of DT. At x 0:09±0.22, the e ciency of CHHS Auger processes exponentially decreases. However, owing to an increase in the dislocation density (due to a considerable, 6.9%, lattice mismatch parameter Da=a), the DT value increases slowly and less markedly. At x > 0:2, the DT value becomes constant. For the InAsSbP-based IREDs, the active area overheat due to the current ¯ow was less pronounced. Ó 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.