Light & Engineering 33 (4) 2025

Volume 33
Date of publication 08/15/2025
Pages 103–112

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Electrophysical Reasons for Limiting the Operating Modes of Quantum Well Light Emitting Diodes L&E, Vol.33, No.4, 2025

Articles authors:

Fedor I. Manyakhin, Lyudmila O. Mokretsova, Arkady A. Skvortsov, Dmitry O. Varlamov

Fedor I. Manyakhin, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor. He graduated from the Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics in 1973. Currently, he is a professor at Moscow Polytechnic University, he is the author and co-author of over 180 publications. He has been awarded a Certificate of Honour by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and was a laureate of the Golden Names of Higher Education 2018 competition in the category For Contribution to Science and Higher Education. His research interests include semiconductor electronics and the physics of semiconductor devices

Lyudmila O. Mokretsova, Ph. D. in Engineering, Associate Professor. She graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISIS) in 1978 and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer-Aided Design and Engineering at the National University of Science and Technology MISIS. She was a laureate of the Golden Names of Higher Education 2018 competition in the category For the Implementation of Innovative Teaching Methods. Her research interests include three-dimensional modelling in lighting design

Arkady A. Skvortsov, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. He is Head of Department at Moscow Polytechnic University and the author or co-author of more than 150 scientific articles and monographs on semiconductor materials science, as well as on the degradation of metallization systems and contact structures in micro- and nanoelectronics

Dmitry O. Varlamov, engineer. He graduated from Moscow State Technical University “MAMI” in 2005 and is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Electrical Equipment and Industrial Electronics at Moscow Polytechnic University. He is the author and coauthor of more than 40 publications. His research interests include microcontroller systems and LED technologies

Abstract:

Based on long-term experimental studies and analysis of the specific features of the current-voltage characteristics of quantum well light emitting diodes (LEDs), based on wide-bandgap semiconductors, it has been found that modern quantum well LEDs have an inherent limitation on their operating current density, determined by existing design and technological parameters. This limitation is associated with the formation of a built-in electric field within the quantum well region, caused by the injection of excess charge from the incoming charge carriers. When such a built-in electric field forms in the quantum well region the efficiency decreases inversely with the potential difference between the outermost quantum wells, that is, inversely with the increasing current density.
Thus, a multiple quantum well structure can be modelled as a multi-plate parallel-plate capacitor, where the stored charge is proportional to the charge of the injected excess carriers or depends exponentially on the voltage that lowers the potential barrier of the space charge region. As a result, once a certain current density threshold is exceeded, the external voltage across the LED structure increases sharply.
The current density, at which the excess voltage Ui appears, is approximately the same for all quantum well LEDs with existing design and fabrication parameters. This threshold can be described by the expression JКР=(2kTo)/(q2L), where L is the product of the carrier lifetime in the quantum wells and the distance between the outermost wells. This value typically falls within the range of (1–10) A/cm2.

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Keywords

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33383/2025-11

Article in RUS:
Svetotekhnika # 3, 2025, pp. 20–26