Enhancement of optical phonons limited electron mobility in an AlGaN step-shaped quantum well

Achieving high conductivity in n-type AlGaN of deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes is still a challenge nowadays. In the Lei–Ting equilibrium equation method framework, a four-layer quantum well with n-Al0.7Ga0.3N barriers and an Al0.55Ga0.45N/AlxGa1−xN bi-component well could obtain a much higher electron mobility μT than that in a single-component quantum well over a relatively broad Al content range 0.56 < x < 0.68. While the built-in electric field induces strong confinement, pushing the electron to the interface, the optical phonon mode at this interface could be component-modulated to disappear due to the ternary mixed crystal effect. A significant enhancement of electron mobility can be achieved by avoiding the scattering from optical phonons at the interface where the electron gathers. The optical phonon limited μT could reach 7966 cm2/V s at x = 0.58, which is almost five times of 1518 cm2/V s in the case of x = 0.55 and ten times of 822 cm2/V s for x = 0.70. Such a step-shaped quantum well with high electron mobility could be an alternate or insert layer to the high Al content n-layer to alleviate the current crowding.