Strong Size Dependency on the Carrier and Photon Dynamics in InGaN/GaN Single Nanowalls Determined Using Photoluminescence and Ultrafast Transient Absorption Spectroscopy

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 17; no. 8; pp. 4596 - 4603
• Main Authors: Chouksey, S, Sankaranarayanan, S, Pendem, V, Saha, P. K, Ganguly, S, Saha, D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 09.08.2017
• Subjects: carrier/photon dynamics; exciton binding energy; photoluminescence; transient absorption spectroscopy; Nanowall; quantum confinement
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b00970

Here, we have demonstrated strong size dependency of quasi-equilibrium and nonequilibrium carrier and photon dynamics in InGaN/GaN single nanowalls using photoluminescence and transient absorption spectroscopy. We demonstrate that two-dimensional carrier confinement, strain relaxation, and modified density of states lead to a reduced Stokes shift, smaller full width at half-maxima, increased exciton binding energy, and reduced nonradiative recombination. The ultrafast transient spectroscopy shows that carrier capture is a two-step process dominated by optical phonons and carrier–carrier scattering in succession. The carrier capture is a strongly size-dependent process and becomes slower due to modulation of the density of available states for progressively decreasing nanowall sizes. The slowest process is the electron–hole recombination, which is also extremely size-dependent and the rate increases by almost an order of magnitude in comparison to that of quantum-well structures. Electron–hole wave function overlap and modified density of states are among the key aspects in determining all the properties of these structures.