Shing-Chung Wang

Enhancing the output power of GaN-based LEDs grown on wet-etched patterned sapphire substrates

GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with emitting wavelength of 450 nm were grown on patterned sapphire substrates (PSSs) fabricated by chemical wet etching. The crystallography-etched facet was {1-102} R-plane with a 57deg against {0001} C-axis and had superior capability for enhancing light extraction efficiency. The light output power of the PSS LED was 1.15 times higher than that of the conventional LED at an injection current of 20 mA. The output power and external quantum efficiency were estimated to be 9 mW and 16.4%, respectively. The improvement was attributed not only to geometrical shapes of {1-102} crystallography-etched facets that efficiently scatter the guided light to find escape cones, but also to dislocation density reduction by adopting the PSS growth scheme

CW lasing of current injection blue GaN-based vertical cavity surface emitting laser

Here, we report the cw laser operation of electrically pumped GaN-based vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL). The GaN-based VCSEL has a ten-pair InGaN∕GaN multiple quantum well active layer embedded in a GaN hybrid microcavity of 5λ optical thickness with two high reflectivity mirrors provided by an epitaxially grown AlN∕GaN distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) and a Ta2O5∕SiO2 dielectric DBR. cw laser action was achieved at a threshold injection current of 1.4mA at 77K. The laser emitted a blue wavelength at 462nm with a narrow linewidth of about 0.15nm. The laser beam has a divergence angle of about 11.7° with a polarization ratio of 80%. A very strong spontaneous coupling efficiency of 7.5×10−2 was measured.

Nanoscale epitaxial lateral overgrowth of GaN-based light-emitting diodes on a SiO2 nanorod-array patterned sapphire template

High efficiency GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are demonstrated by a nanoscale epitaxial lateral overgrowth (NELO) method on a SiO2 nanorod-array patterned sapphire substrate (NAPSS). The transmission electron microscopy images suggest that the voids between SiO2 nanorods and the stacking faults introduced during the NELO of GaN can effectively suppress the threading dislocation density. The output power and external quantum efficiency of the fabricated LED were enhanced by 52% and 56%, respectively, compared to those of a conventional LED. The improvements originated from both the enhanced light extraction assisted by the NAPSS and the reduced dislocation densities using the NELO method.

Low efficiency droop in blue-green m-plane InGaN/GaN light emitting diodes

We investigated the electroluminescence and relatively external quantum efficiency (EQE) of m-plane InGaN/GaN light emitting diodes (LEDs) emitting at 480 nm to elucidate the droop behaviors in nitride-based LEDs. With increasing the injection current density to 100 A/cm2, the m-plane LEDs exhibit only 13% efficiency droop, whereas conventional c-plane LEDs suffer from efficiency droop at very low injection current density and the EQE of c-plane LEDs decrease to as little as 50% of its maximum value. Our simulation models show that in m-plane LEDs the absence of polarization fields manifest not only the hole distribution more uniform among the wells but also the reduction in electron overflow out of electron blocking layer. These results suggest that the nonuniform distribution of holes and electron leakage current due to strong polarization fields are responsible for the relatively significant efficiency droop of conventional c-plane LEDs.

Continuous wave operation of current injected GaN vertical cavity surface emitting lasers at room temperature

We report the demonstration of the continuous wave laser action on GaN-based vertical cavity surface emitting lasers at room temperature. The laser structure consists of a ten-pair Ta2O5/SiO2 distributed Bragg reflector (DBR), a 7λ-thick optical cavity, ten-pairs InGaN/GaN multiquantum wells with an AlGaN electron blocking layer, and a 29-pair AlN/GaN DBR. The laser has a threshold current of about 9.7 mA corresponding to the current density of about 12.4 kA/cm2 and a turn-on voltage about 4.3 V at 300 K. The lasing wavelength was 412 nm with a linewidth of about 0.5 nm. A spontaneous emission coupling efficiency factor of about 5×10−3 and the degree of polarization of about 55% were measured, respectively. The laser beam has a narrow divergence angle of about 8°.

Crack-free GaN∕AlN distributed Bragg reflectors incorporated with GaN∕AlN superlattices grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

A crack-free GaN∕AlN distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) incorporated with GaN∕AlN superlattice (SL) layers was grown on a c-plane sapphire substrate by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Three sets of half-wave layers consisting of 5.5 periods of GaN∕AlN SL layers and GaN layer were inserted in every five pairs of the 20 pair GaN∕AlN DBR structure to suppress the crack generation. The grown GaN∕AlN DBRs with SL insertion layers showed no observable cracks in the structure and achieved high peak reflectivity of 97% at 399nm with a stop band width of 14nm. Based on the x-ray analysis, the reduction in the in-plane tensile stress in the DBR structure with insertion of SL layers could be responsible for the suppression of crack formation and achievement of high reflectivity.

Study of the Excitation Power Dependent Internal Quantum Efficiency in InGaN/GaN LEDs Grown on Patterned Sapphire Substrate

The mechanisms of the excitation power dependent internal quantum efficiency in InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) LEDs grown on the planar and the patterned sapphire substrates (PSS) at temperature of 15 and 300 K were investigated. From observation the tendency of emission peak energy and carrier lifetime variation in MQWs with different excitation power for both LED samples, we conclude the internal quantum efficiency would increase as coulomb screening effect dominates at lower carrier injection stage and decrease due to the band-filling effect at higher density stage. At room temperature, the majority of the initial injected carriers would be first consumed by the thermal activated nonradiative centers that hinder the further achievement of high-efficiency LED devices. Experimentally, the internal quantum efficiency of the LED grown on the PSS is ~70% and that of the LED grown on the planar sapphire substrate is ~62%. For the LED grown on the PSS, the observed higher internal quantum efficiency is due to the larger activation energy Therefore, the reduction of dislocation defects and the prevention of injected carriers escaping from extended states would be a promising prospective for InGaN/GaN MQWs LEDs to achieve high internal quantum efficiency.

GaN-based two-dimensional surface-emitting photonic crystal lasers with AlN∕GaN distributed Bragg reflector

GaN-based two-dimensional (2D) surface-emitting photonic crystal (PC) lasers with AlN∕GaN distributed Bragg reflectors are fabricated and demonstrated. The lasing threshold energy density is about 3.5mJ∕cm2 per pulse under optical pumping at room temperature. Only one dominant emission wavelength of 424.3nm with a narrow linewidth of 1.1A above the threshold is observed. The laser emission covers whole circularly 2D PC patterns (50μm in diameter) with a small divergence angle. The lasing wavelength emitted from 2D PC lasers with different lattice constants occurs at the calculated band-edges provided by the PC patterns. The characteristics of large area, small divergence angle, and single mode emission from the GaN-based 2D surface-emitting PC lasers should be promising in high power blue-violet emitter applications.

Light-output enhancement in a nitride-based light-emitting diode with 22° undercut sidewalls

We successfully fabricated nitride-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with ∼22° undercut sidewalls. The ∼22° etching undercut sidewalls were achieved by controllable inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching. With a 20-mA current injection, the output powers of the LED with ∼22° undercut sidewalls and standard LED were 5.1 and 3 mW, respectively - a factor of 1.7 times enhancement. It was found that such undercut sidewalls could enhance the probability of escaping the photons outside from the LED in the near horizontal and in-plane directions. This simple and controllable method is beneficial to fabricate brighter LEDs.

Comparison of p-Side Down and p-Side Up GaN Light-Emitting Diodes Fabricated by Laser Lift-Off

The performance characteristics of laser lift-off (LLO) freestanding InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted on a Cu substrate with p-side up, and p-side down configurations were determined and compared. The InGaN/GaN MQW LED structures, which were originally fabricated on a sapphire substrate, were transferred to a Cu substrate by the LLO process into two different configurations, namely p-side up and p-side down with the same Ni/Pd/Au p-contact metallizations. Both p-side down and p-side up LLO-LEDs showed a higher current operation capability up to 400 mA than the original LEDs on the sapphire substrate. The p-side down LLO-LEDs showed a nearly eightfold increase in the light output power compared to the p-side up LLO-LEDs. The p-side down LLO-LEDs also showed a more stable wavelength emission spectrum than the p-side up ones.