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Rate-limited nonradiative recombination at a single point defect revealed by time-resolved cathodoluminescence

Thomas F. K. Weatherley1,*,†, Gunnar Kusch2, Jean-François Carlin1, Raphaël Butté1, Rachel A. Oliver2, and Nicolas Grandjean1

  • *Contact author: thomas.weatherley@alumni.epfl.ch
  • †Present address: Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California 94043, USA.
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Phys. Rev. Applied 26, 044011 – Published 5 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/j1nk-831l

Abstract

Nonradiative carrier recombination at point defects (PDs) can severely limit the efficiency of semiconductor optoelectronic devices. However, such nonradiative PDs are difficult to study directly because they are atomic scale, do not emit localized luminescence, and are typically buried deep in a semiconductor heterostructure. As a result, their properties are usually inferred from macroscale optical measurements interpreted using the ABC recombination model. Here, we map carrier diffusion and nonradiative recombination at individual PDs in a single InGaN/GaN quantum well on the nanometer and nanosecond scale using time-resolved cathodoluminescence. Applying a diffusion-recombination model, we extract the room-temperature intrinsic quantum well carrier lifetime (approximately 4.0 ns) and diffusivity (0.83±0.05  cm2 s−1), together with the capture cross section of a single isolated PD in the well at 6.8±0.9  nm2. We show that nonradiative recombination at this PD takes a minimum time of 16±2  ps. This limitation predicts that the macroscale defect-related nonradiative recombination rate will saturate above carrier densities routinely reached during device operation, a behavior unaccounted for by the standard ABC model.

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Phys. Rev. Applied 26, 044011– Published 5 October, 2026
  • Received 25 April 2026
  • Accepted 11 August 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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