Dominance Of Radiative Recombination From Electron-Beam-Pumped Deep-Uv Algan Multi-Quantum-Well Heterostructures

AlGaN-based multiple-quantum-well (MQW) heterostructures were irradiated with a pulsed electron beam. Excitation with a beam energy of 12 keV and a beam current of 4.4 mA produced cathodoluminescense at lambda = 246 nm with a measured peak output power of >200 mW. The emission is dominated by radiative recombination from the MQW up to the maximum tested excitation power density of 1 MW/cm(2), as evidenced by unity slope in a double-logarithmic plot of the light output power vs. excitation power density. Monte Carlo simulations of the depth distribution of deposited energy for different beam energies produced good agreement with the measured peak output power vs. beam energy for an assumed carrier diffusion length of similar to 200 nm. Published by AIP Publishing.