HYDROGEN TUNING OF (INGA)(ASN) OPTICAL PROPERTIES

The effects of atomic hydrogen irradiation on the optical properties of (InGa)( AsN) single quantum wells investigated by means of photoluminescence spectroscopy. For increasing hydrogen dose, the photoluminescence band peak energy of each nitrogen-containing sample blue-shifts and for high hydrogen dose it reaches that of a corresponding nitrogen- free reference sample. This effect is accompanied by a broadening of the photoluminescence band line width and by a decrease in the photoluminescence efficiency. Thermal annealing at 550 °C fully restores the original band gap value and the photoluminescence line width of the sample before hydrogenation. An interpretation of these phenomena is proposed in terms of an H perturbation of the charge distribution around the strongly electronegative N atoms, leading most likely to the formation of H-N complexes, and to an ensuing electronic passivation of nitrogen