Luminescence studies in InxGa1−xN epitaxial layers with different indium contents

•Compositional fluctuation is responsible for the broadened PL FWHM of InxGa1−xN.•Pronounced S-shaped is due to larger exciton localization for higher In content.•Phase separation in In-rich InGaN would affect significantly the PL feature.

The optical properties of InxGa1−xN epitaxial layers (x = 0.02, 0.04, 0.11, 0.15, 0.30 and 0.33) grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) have been investigated by temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) measurement. The surface morphologies of InGaN samples are studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. The PL feature at 12 K has shown an increase in full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) with increasing In content. An anomalous S-shaped temperature dependence of the PL peak energy exhibited by InGaN films with higher In content enabled the evaluation of the exciton localization energy. The broadened FWHM and S-shaped emission shift are attributed to larger compositional fluctuation due to compositional inhomogeneity of In. Additionally, the luminescence mechanism relating to the phase separation has to be considered for the much larger FWHM value and the pronounced S-shaped behavior for the InGaN samples with In content of 0.30 and 0.33.