Design of white light-emitting diodes using InGaN/AlInGaN quantum-well structures

Based on the Rashba-Sheka-Pikus Hamiltonian in the vicinity of the Gamma point, and taking into consideration spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization, the optical intensity of nitride-based quantum-well light-emitting diodes has been calculated. It is found that strain substantially alters the subband structure and thus the output intensity of these nitride-biased quantum-well light-emitting diodes. A design that uses AlInGaN as the quantum barrier is proposed to realize efficient red emission, which is hard to achieve if GaN is used as the barrier. In the proposed design, three different InGaN/AlInGaN quantum-well structures emit red, green, and blue light of similar intensity. Also, to achieve high efficiency, important factors related to the oscillator strength are discussed in detail. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.