Electrical and optical properties of modulation-doped p-AlGaN/GaN superlattices

Electrical and optical properties of modulation-doped p-AlGaN/GaN superlattices are compared to those of similarly doped p-GaN films. It is shown that modulation doping increases the sheet hole concentration by several times. In p-AlGaN/GaN superlattices grown on GaN underlayers, this increase is accompanied by a significant increase in hole mobility which results in a remarkable decrease in sheet resistivity of the structure compared to p-GaN films and this decrease in sheet resistivity should hold up to temperatures exceeding 350 degreesC. For superlattices prepared on AlGaN underlayers, the mobility decreases compared to p-GaN. In such superlattices, one also observes a strong redshift and a strong broadening of the band edge luminescence peak coming most probably from increased mosaicity and strain which would also explain the observed deterioration of mobility. The magnitude of the redshift in the position of the band edge luminescence band slightly increased upon application of reverse bias which is interpreted as a manifestation of quantum-confined Stark effect. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.