Light emission ranging from blue to red from a series of InGaN/GaN single quantum wells

In this paper, we describe the growth and characterization of InGaN single quantum wells with emission peaks in the blue, green, amber and red spectral regions, grown by metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy. Starting from the growth of a blue-emitting (peak ~430 nm) InGaN quantum well at 860°C the InGaN growth temperature was progressively reduced. The photoluminescence peak wavelength, measured at low temperature, shifts through the green and orange spectral regions and reaches 670 nm for an InGaN growth temperature of 760°C. This corresponds to an energy lower than the currently accepted band-gap of the binary compound, InN. Spectral characteristics of the luminescence peaks will be discussed, including an analysis of the phonon-assisted contribution. Low energy secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis provides information on the indium content and thickness of the `blue' and `red' quantum wells. The results are combined to discuss the origin of the `sub-band-gap' luminescence in terms of the combined influence of InN-GaN segregation and the effect of intense piezoelectric fields.