Compensation between radiative and Auger recombinations in III-nitrides: The scaling law of separated-wavefunction recombinations

The magnitude of radiative and Auger recombinations in polar InGaN quantum wells is studied. Lifetime measurements show that these two processes are related by a power law as the electron-hole wavefunction overlap varies, leading to a near-compensation of their relative contributions. Theoretical investigation reveals that, in systems with wavefunction separation, recombination rates are controlled by the spatial tails of decaying wavefunctions. Such recombinations observe a general power law whose exponent is determined only by the ratio of the carriers' effective masses. These findings explain why III-nitride emitters remain efficient despite significant wavefunction separation.