Multi-microscopy study of the influence of stacking faults and three-dimensional In distribution on the optical properties of m-plane InGaN quantum wells grown on microwire sidewalls

The optical properties of m-plane InGaN/GaN quantum wells grown on microwire sidewalls were investigated carrying out a correlative scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), atom probe tomography (APT), and micro-photoluminescence study applied on single nanoscale field-emission tips obtained by a focused ion beam annular milling. Instead of assuming simple rectangular composition profiles, yielding misleading predictions for the optical transition energies, we can thus take into account actual compositional distributions and the presence of stacking faults (SFs). SFs were shown to be responsible for a lowering of the recombination energies of the order of 0.1 eV with respect to those expected for defect-free quantum wells (QWs). Such energy reduction allows establishing a good correspondence between the transition energies observed by optical spectroscopy and those calculated on the basis of the QWs In measured composition and distribution assessed by STEM structural analysis and APT chemical mapping.