Enhancement of Optical Polarization Anisotropy of a-Plane InGaN/GaN Multiple Quantum Well Structure from Violet to Blue-Green Light

A nonpolar a-plane (1120) InGaN/GaN epitaxial layer was grown on r-plane (1012) sapphire substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). In this work, a set of step-stage multiple quantum wells (MQWs) is inserted between underlying GaN and overlying high indium-content MQWs to investigate its influence on the optical properties of the active region. The step-stage MQWs were deposited by varying growth temperature at fixed precursor flow rate. Optical properties were investigated by the measurement of temperature-dependent photoluminescence (TD-PL). The optical polarization ratio, activation energy, and the smile-like curve in full width at half maximum (FWHM) of PL were analyzed in detail.