The effect of built-in electric field in GaN/AlGaN quantum wells with high AlN mole fraction

Spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization in hexagonal GaN/AlGaN heterostructures give rise to large built-in electric fields. The effect of the builtin electric field in GaN/AlxGa1-xN quantum wells was investigated for x = 0.2 to 0.8 by photoluminescence studies. The quantum well structures were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (0001) sapphire substrates. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy performed on the samples revealed abrupt interfaces and uniform layer thicknesses. The low temperature (4 K) photoluminescence peaks were progressively red-shifted due to the quantum confined Stark effect depending on the AlN mole fraction in the barriers and the thickness of the GaN quantum well. Our results verify the existence of very large built-in electric fields of up to 5 MV/cm in GaN/Al0.8Ga0.2N quantum wells.