Carrier dynamics in epilayers and nanocolumns of ternary AlGaN with a tunable bandgap

We apply several optical time-resolved techniques to investigate the dynamics of excess carriers in AlxGa1−xN nanocolumns grown on (111) silicon substrates and in thick AlxGa1−xN epitaxial layers deposited on sapphire. We demonstrate that carrier lifetime drops in nanocolumns by several times if compared to epilayers with similar Al content; in addition, recombination rate displays a strong nonlinearity on excitation. On the other hand, carrier localization effects observed in the epilayers completely disappear in nanocolumns.