Donor and acceptor impurity states in N-polar wurtzite InGaN staggered quantum wells: Built-in electric field effects

•The hydrogenic impurity states are investigated in N-polar wurtzite InGaN staggered QWs.•The influences of the built-in electric fields are obvious on impurity states in the QWs.•The stepped barrier height can tune effectively acceptor impurity states in the QWs.•The stepped barrier height is insensitive to donor impurity states in the QWs.

Based on the effective-mass approximation, the hydrogenic donor and acceptor impurity states are investigated theoretically in the N-polar wurtzite (WZ) InGaN staggered quantum wells (QWs). Numerical results show that the built-in electric field, the stepped barrier height and well size influences are obvious on impurity states in the staggered QWs. Moreover, the stepped barrier height can tune effectively acceptor impurity states, while it is insensitive to donor impurity states in the staggered QWs. In particular, the calculated results indicate that the built-in electric field can induce the donor and acceptor binding energies of impurities located at zi=Lw and −Lw become insensitive to the variation of the well width, respectively.

Graphical abstractUnder the influences of the built-in electric field, the stepped barrier height can tune effectively acceptor impurity states in the N-polar InGaN staggered quantum wells.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide