Correlation of proton radiation damage in InGaAs-GaAs quantum-well light-emitting diodes

The effect of proton irradiation of InGaAs/GaAs quantum-well (QW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) has been studied at energies ranging from 1 to 500 MeV in order to determine device damage mechanisms. The data are analyzed in terms of the theory of Rose and Barnes (1982), and complete correlation of the data over the entire proton energy range was achieved. This degradation data, along with data from other GaAs-based optoelectronic devices, are discussed in terms of the nonionizing energy loss (NIEL). The energy dependences of the various damage coefficients for proton energies greater than about 10 MeV are bounded by the total NIEL and the elastic NIEL.