Physical implications of activation energy derived from temperature dependent photoluminescence of InGaN-based materials

Physical implications of the activation energy derived from temperature dependent photoluminescence (PL) of InGaN-based materials are investigated, finding that the activation energy is determined by the thermal decay processes involved. If the carrier escaping from localization states is responsible for the thermal quenching of PL intensity, as often occurs in InGaN materials, the activation energy is related to the energy barrier height of localization states. An alternative possibility for the thermal decay of the PL intensity is the activation of nonradiative recombination processes, in which case thermal activation energy would be determined by the carrier capture process of the nonradiative recombination centers rather than by the ionization energy of the defects themselves.