Coexistence of type-I and type-II band line-ups in 1-2 monolayer thick GaN/AlN single quantum wells

GaN/AlN quantum wells (QWs) with varied nominal thickness of 0.5-4 monolayers have been studied by time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The structures demonstrate an emission peak with the thickness-dependent wavelength in the range 225-320 nm. The observed temporal behavior of PL between 225 and 280 nm can be described as a superposition of fast and slow decaying components with characteristic decay time constants of the order of 0.1-0.7 ns and 7-30 ns, respectively. The fast PL component with the decay time smaller than 1 ns dominates in the thicker GaN insertions and tends to vanish in the thinnest ones, where the slow PL component becomes progressively longer. These observations imply formation in the GaN/AlN monolayer-thick layers of an inhomogeneous excitonic system involving both direct and indirect in space excitons.