An-Jye Tzou

Growing GaN LEDs on amorphous SiC buffer with variable C/Si compositions

The epitaxy of high-power gallium nitride (GaN) light-emitting diode (LED) on amorphous silicon carbide (a-SixC1−x) buffer is demonstrated. The a-SixC1−x buffers with different nonstoichiometric C/Si composition ratios are synthesized on SiO2/Si substrate by using a low-temperature plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The GaN LEDs on different SixC1−x buffers exhibit different EL and C-V characteristics because of the extended strain induced interfacial defects. The EL power decays when increasing the Si content of SixC1−x buffer. The C-rich SixC1−x favors the GaN epitaxy and enables the strain relaxation to suppress the probability of Auger recombination. When the SixC1−x buffer changes from Si-rich to C-rich condition, the EL peak wavelengh shifts from 446 nm to 450 nm. Moreover, the uniform distribution contour of EL intensity spreads between the anode and the cathode because the traping density of the interfacial defect gradually reduces. In comparison with the GaN LED grown on Si-rich SixC1−x buffer, the device deposited on C-rich SixC1−x buffer shows a lower turn-on voltage, a higher output power, an external quantum efficiency, and an efficiency droop of 2.48 V, 106 mW, 42.3%, and 7%, respectively.

Improved carrier injection in GaN-based VCSEL via AlGaN/GaN multiple quantum barrier electron blocking layer

In this report, the improved lasing performance of the III-nitride based vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) has been demonstrated by replacing the bulk AlGaN electron blocking layer (EBL) in the conventional VCSEL structure with an AlGaN/GaN multiple quantum barrier (MQB) EBL. The output power can be enhanced up to three times from 0.3 mW to 0.9 mW. In addition, the threshold current density of the fabricated device with the MQB-EBL was reduced from 12 kA/cm2 (9.5 mA) to 10.6 kA/cm2 (8.5 mA) compared with the use of the bulk AlGaN EBL. Theoretical calculation results suggest that the improved carrier injection efficiency can be mainly attributed to the partial release of the strain and the effect of quantum interference by using the MQB structure, hence increasing the effective barrier height of the conduction band.

High-performance InGaN-based green light-emitting diodes with quaternary InAlGaN/GaN superlattice electron blocking layer.

In this study, high-performance InGaN-based green light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with a quaternary InAlGaN/GaN superlattice electron blocking layer (QSL-EBL) have been demonstrated. The band structural simulation was employed to investigate the electrostatic field and carriers distribution, show that the efficiency and droop behavior can be intensively improved by using a QSL-EBL in LEDs. The QSL-EBL structure can reduce the polarization-related electrostatic fields in the multiple quantum wells (MQWs), leading to a smoother band diagram and a more uniform carriers distribution among the quantum wells under forward bias. In comparison with green LEDs with conventional bulk-EBL structure, the light output power of LEDs with QSL-EBL was greatly enhanced by 53%. The efficiency droop shows only 30% at 100 A/cm2 comparing to its peak value, suggesting that the QSL-EBL LED is promising for future white lighting with high performance.

Efficiency droop behavior improvement through barrier thickness modification for GaN-on-silicon light-emitting diodes

Abstract. Crack-free GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were grown on 150-mm-diameter Si substrates by using low-pressure metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. The relationship between the LED devices and the thickness of quantum barriers (QBs) was investigated. The crystal quality and surface cracking of GaN-on-Si were greatly improved by an AlxGa1−xN buffer layer composed of graded Al. The threading dislocation density of the GaN-on-Si LEDs was reduced to <7×108  cm−2, yielding LEDs with high internal quantum efficiency. Simulation results indicated that reducing the QB thickness improved the carrier injection rate and distribution, thereby improving the droop behavior of the LEDs. LEDs featuring 6-nm-thick QBs exhibited the lowest droop behavior. However, the experimental results showed an unanticipated phenomenon, namely that the peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) and light output power (LOP) gradually decreased with a decreasing QB thickness. In other words, the GaN-on-Si LEDs with 8-nm-thick QBs exhibited low droop behavior and yielded a good peak EQE and LOP, achieving a 22.9% efficiency droop and 54.6% EQE.

Suppression of Current Collapse in Enhancement Mode GaN-Based HEMTs Using an AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN Double Heterostructure

Current collapse is a phenomenon that increases the channel resistance during the switching process when the high gate and drain voltages are applied. The effect can be found from GaN-based high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and is an obstacle for their applications to power electronics. There have been numerous reports on suppressing current collapse using semiconductor process technologies. In this paper, an enhancement mode (E-mode) AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN double heterostructure was proposed. The current collapse phenomena were studied on devices of E-mode MIS and Schottky gate HEMTs. The results indicate the suppression of current collapse for devices with double heterostructure.

Non-thermal alloyed ohmic contact process of GaN-based HEMTs by pulsed laser annealing

We have demonstrated Si implantation incorporation into GaN HEMTs with a non-alloyed ohmic contact process. We optimized the power density of pulsed laser annealing to activate implanted Si dopants without a thermal metallization process. The experimental results show that the GaN surface will be reformed under the high power density of the illumination conditions. It provides a smooth surface for following contact engineering and leads to comparable contact resistance. The transmission line model (TLM) measurement shows a lower contact resistance to 6.8 × 10−7 Ω cm2 via non-alloyed contact technology with significantly improved surface morphology of the contact metals. DC measurement of HEMTs shows better current and on-resistance. The on-resistance could be decreased from 2.18 to 1.74 mΩ-cm2 as we produce a lower contact resistance. Pulsed laser annealing also results in lower gate leakage and smaller dispersion under a pulse I-V measurement, which implies that the density of the surface state is improved.

Greatly improved carrier injection in GaN-based VCSEL by multiple quantum barrier electron blocking layer

In this report, the fabrication and characteristics of III-nitride based vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) with bulk AlGaN and AlGaN/GaN superlattice electron blocking layer (EBL) are observed experimentally and theoretically. The results have been revealed that laser performance is improved by using superlattice EBL. The output power and the slope efficiency are enhanced by the improvement of carrier injection into active region. And the reduction of threshold current density from 10 to 8 kA/cm2 is also observed. Theoretical calculation results suggest that the improved carrier injection efficiency can be mainly attributed to the partial release of the strain at the interface of last quantum barrier and superlattice EBL and hence the increase of electrons and holes effective barrier height.

Breakthrough to Non-Vacuum Deposition of Single-Crystal, Ultra-Thin, Homogeneous Nanoparticle Layers: A Better Alternative to Chemical Bath Deposition and Atomic Layer Deposition

Most thin-film techniques require a multiple vacuum process, and cannot produce high-coverage continuous thin films with the thickness of a few nanometers on rough surfaces. We present a new ”paradigm shift” non-vacuum process to deposit high-quality, ultra-thin, single-crystal layers of coalesced sulfide nanoparticles (NPs) with controllable thickness down to a few nanometers, based on thermal decomposition. This provides high-coverage, homogeneous thickness, and large-area deposition over a rough surface, with little material loss or liquid chemical waste, and deposition rates of 10 nm/min. This technique can potentially replace conventional thin-film deposition methods, such as atomic layer deposition (ALD) and chemical bath deposition (CBD) as used by the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin-film solar cell industry for decades. We demonstrate 32% improvement of CIGS thin-film solar cell efficiency in comparison to reference devices prepared by conventional CBD deposition method by depositing the ZnS NPs buffer layer using the new process. The new ZnS NPs layer allows reduction of an intrinsic ZnO layer, which can lead to severe shunt leakage in case of a CBD buffer layer. This leads to a 65% relative efficiency increase.

Greatly improved efficiency droop for InGaN-based green light emitting diodes by quaternary content superlattice electron blocking layer

We presented a low efficiency droop behavior green light emitting diodes (LEDs) with a quaternary content InAlGaN/GaN superlattice electron blocking layer (SL-EBL). The light output power shows a 57% enhancement and only 30% efficiency droop, which is attributed to a smooth band bending with a uniform carrier distribution.