On the electric-field reservoir for III-nitride based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes

The drift velocity for holes is strongly influenced by the electric field in the p-type hole injection layer for III-nitride based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (DUV LEDs). In this work, we propose an electric-field reservoir (EFR) consisting of a p-Al_xGa_1-xN/p-GaN architecture to facilitate the hole injection and improve the internal quantum efficiency (IQE). The p-Al_xGa_1-xN layer in the EFR can well reserve the electric field that can moderately adjust the drift velocity and the kinetic energy for holes. As a result, we are able to enhance the thermionic emission for holes to cross over the p-EBL with a high Al composition provided that the composition in the p-Al_xGa_1-xN layer is properly optimized to avoid a complete hole depletion therein.