Radiative recombination in GaN/InGaN heterojunction bipolar transistors

We report an electroluminescence (EL) study on npn GaN/InGaN heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs). Three radiative recombination paths are resolved in the HBTs, corresponding to the band-to-band transition (3.3 eV), conduction-band-to-acceptor-level transition (3.15 eV), and yellow luminescence (YL) with the emission peak at 2.2 eV. We further study possible light emission paths by operating the HBTs under different biasing conditions. The band-to-band and the conduction-band-to-acceptor-level transitions mostly arise from the intrinsic base region, while a defect-related YL band could likely originate from the quasi-neutral base region of a GaN/InGaN HBT. The IB-dependent EL intensities for these three recombination paths are discussed. The results also show the radiative emission under the forward-active transistor mode operation is more effective than that using a diode-based emitter due to the enhanced excess electron concentration in the base region as increasing the collector current increases.