Origin of fine oscillations in the photoluminescence spectrum of 2-dimensional electron gas formed in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor structures

An unambiguous identification of the fine oscillations observed in the low temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra of AlGaN/GaN based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structures is carried out. In literature, such oscillations have been erroneously identified as the sub-levels of 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) formed at AlGaN/GaN heterointerface. Here, the origin of these oscillations is probed by performing the angle dependent PL and reflectivity measurements under identical conditions. Contrary to the reports available in literature, we find that the fine oscillations are not related to 2DEG sub-levels. The optical characteristics of these oscillations are mainly governed by an interference phenomenon. In particular, peculiar temperature dependent redshift and excitation intensity dependent blueshift, which have been interpreted as the characteristics of 2DEG sub-levels in HEMT structures by other researchers, are understood by invoking the wavelength and temperature dependence of the refractive index of GaN within the framework of interference phenomenon. The results of other researchers are also consistently explained by considering the fine oscillatory features as the interference oscillations.