Time-resolved photoluminescence studies of AlxGa1−xN alloys

The optical properties of ${\mathrm{Al}}_x{\mathrm{Ga}}_{\text{1−x}}\mathrm{N}$ alloys with x varied from 0 to 0.35 have been investigated by picosecond time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Our results revealed that while the PL intensity decreases with an increase of Al content, the low-temperature PL decay lifetime increases with Al content. These results can be understood in terms of the effects of tail states in the density of states due to alloy fluctuation in the ${\mathrm{Al}}_x{\mathrm{Ga}}_{\text{1−x}}\mathrm{N}$ alloys. The Al-content dependence of the energy-tail-state distribution parameter $E_0,$ which is an important parameter for determining optical and electrical properties of the AlGaN alloys, has been obtained experimentally. The PL decay lifetime increases with the localization energy and, consequently, increases with Al content. The implications of our findings to III-nitride optoelectronic device applications are also discussed.