Study of temperature dependent electroluminescence of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells using low temperature scanning near-field optical microscopy

Though GaN based semiconductor materials and devices have achieved giant commerc ial success, there were few reports on their electroluminescent near-field optic al studies at low temperature. In this paper we present our results of the elect roluminescent near-field images and spectra at both room temperature and liquid nitrogen temperature by using a lab-made low temperature scanning near-field opt ical microscope. We found that with the decreasing of sample temperature, the fl uctuation of electroluminescent intensity in the near-field images is reduced gr eatly and the peak photon energy of the spectra emitted from the quantum wells e xhibits a blue-shift at first and then a red-shift. A new spectral peak emerges at higher photon energy at liquid nitrogen temperature. According to our analysi s, this higher photon energy peak is attributed to the transition from the botto m of conduction band to the acceptor energy states in the p-GaN cap layer.