Photoluminescence enhancement by localized surface plasmons in AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN double heterostructures

Double heterostructures AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy and designed for use as light emitting diodes for 360 nm wavelength were patterned by shallow nanoholes and injected with Ag/SiO2 or Al nanoparticles. A 1.8 times increase in the photoluminescence and microcathodoluminescence signal from the GaN active region was observed for 100 nm diameter Al nanoparticles, the efficiency decreased compared to the reference planar samples for small Al nanoparticles of 30-40 nm diameter, and a moderate increase of 1.2 times was detected for Ag/SiO2 nanoparticles. The observed phenomena are explained by the GaN emitter coupling with localized surface plasmons produced by metallic nanoparticles. (C) 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim