Electroreflectance spectra of InGaN/AlGaN/GaN quantum-well heterostructures

p−n InGaN/AlGaN/GaN heterostructures with InGaN/AlGaN multiple quantum wells are studied by electroreflectance spectroscopy. The structures are grown by metal—organic epitaxy and arranged with the p region in contact with the heat sink. Light is incident on and reflected from the structures through the sapphire substrate. To modulate the reflectivity, rectangular voltage pulses and a dc reverse bias are applied to the p−n junction. A line corresponding to interband transitions in the region of InGaN/AlGaN multiple quantum wells is observed in the electroreflectance spectra. The peak of this line is shifted to shorter wavelengths from the peak of injection luminescence of the light-emitting diode structures. The low-field model developed by Aspnes is used to describe the electroreflectance spectra. By choosing the parameters of the model to fit the experimental data, the effective band gap of the active region of the structure, Eg*, is determined at 2.76–2.78 eV. The experimental dependence of Eg* on the applied voltage is attributed to the effect of piezoelectric fields in the InGaN quantum wells. In the electroreflectance spectra, an interference pattern is observed in the wide spectral range from 1.4 to 3.2 eV. The interference is due to the dependence of the effective refractive index on the electric field.