Si-Young Bae

Morphology development of GaN nanowires using a pulsed-mode MOCVD growth technique

In this paper, we demonstrate a scalable process for the precise position-controlled selective growth of GaN nanowire arrays by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using a pulsed-mode growth technique. The location, orientation, length, and diameter of each GaN nanowire are controlled via pulsed-mode growth parameters such as growth temperature and precursor injection and interruption durations. The diameter and length of each GaN nanowire are in the ranges of more than 240 nm and 250–1250 nm, respectively, with different vertical-to-lateral aspect ratios that depend on the growth temperature. Also, it is found that a higher growth temperature helps increase the vertical growth rate and reduces the lateral growth rate of GaN nanowire arrays. Furthermore, in the case of longer TMGa injection duration, the Ga-rich region allows the higher lateral growth rate of GaN nanostructures, which leads to a transition in the morphology from nanowires to a thin film, while in the case of longer NH3 injection duration, the surface morphology changes from nanowires to pyramidal structures. In addition, the surface structure can also be controlled by varying the precursor interruption duration. Finally, we report and discuss a growth model for GaN nanowire arrays under pulsed-mode MOCVD growth.

Size-controlled InGaN/GaN nanorod array fabrication and optical characterization

We demonstrate a cost-effective top-down approach for fabricating InGaN/GaN nanorod arrays using a wet treatment process in a KOH solution. The average diameter of the as-etched nanorods was effectively reduced from 420 nm to 180 nm. The spatial strain distribution was then investigated by measuring the high-resolution cathodoluminescence directly on top of the nanorods. The smaller nanorods showed a higher internal quantum efficiency and lower potential fluctuation, which can subsequently be exploited for high-efficiency photonic devices.

Improved Photovoltaic Effects of a Vertical-Type InGaN/GaN Multiple Quantum Well Solar Cell

We investigated the photovoltaic performance of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) solar cells by comparing vertical-type and conventional lateral-type solar cells. We found that both bottom reflector and front surface texturing of vertical-type InGaN/GaN MQW solar cells enhanced light absorption by 45%, leading to an enhancement of the short circuit current density (JSC) by 1.6 times, compared to that of a lateral-type structure. For the vertical-type InGaN/GaN solar cell, Ag was used for bottom reflectors and pyramid textured surfaces were formed by KOH etching after a lift-off process, whereas lateral-type structures were fabricated on sapphire substrates having smooth surfaces. As a result, the vertical InGaN/GaN MQW solar cells showed a high fill factor of 80.0% and conversion efficiency of 2.3%; in contrast, the conventional lateral structure produced a fill factor of 77.6% and a conversion efficiency of 1.4%.

Highly elongated vertical GaN nanorod arrays on Si substrates with an AlN seed layer by pulsed-mode metal–organic vapor deposition

To extend the availability of nanostructure-based optoelectronic applications, vertically elongated nanorods with precisely controlled morphology are required. For group III nitrides, pulsed-mode growth has recently been reported as an effective method for growing nanorod arrays with geometric precision. Here, we demonstrated the growth of arrays of highly elongated nanorods on Si substrates by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition using a pulsed-mode approach. Unlike the thick and high (or middle)-quality GaN templates normally used, nanorod growth was performed on an ultrathin and low-quality AlN/Si platform. Using kinetically controlled growth conditions and a patterning process, exceptionally long GaN nanorods were achieved with high geometric precision. The grown nanorods showed considerably improved optical and structural properties while remaining in uniform arrays. This approach can be used with a variety of materials to obtain nanorods with high quality, high uniformity, and high aspect ratio, and it can also serve as an effective fabrication method for InAlGaN-alloyed core/shell nanostructures for optoelectronic nanodevices with ultrahigh efficiency.

Graphene interlayer for current spreading enhancement by engineering of barrier height in GaN-based light-emitting diodes

Pristine graphene and a graphene interlayer inserted between indium tin oxide (ITO) and p-GaN have been analyzed and compared with ITO, which is a typical current spreading layer in lateral GaN LEDs. Beyond a certain current injection, the pristine graphene current spreading layer (CSL) malfunctioned due to Joule heat that originated from the high sheet resistance and low work function of the CSL. However, by combining the graphene and the ITO to improve the sheet resistance, it was found to be possible to solve the malfunctioning phenomenon. Moreover, the light output power of an LED with a graphene interlayer was stronger than that of an LED using ITO or graphene CSL. We were able to identify that the improvement originated from the enhanced current spreading by inspecting the contact and conducting the simulation.

Morphology Evolution of Pulsed-Flux Ga-Polar GaN Nanorod Growth by Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy and Its Nucleation Dependence

We fabricated selectively grown Ga-polar GaN nanorods by optimizing metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) growth parameters using continuous- and pulsed-mode approaches. Nucleation layers were grown using continuous mode with H2 or N2 as carrier gas, which resulted in pyramidal or hexagonal shapes, respectively. The growth mechanism of nanorods was further studied for the nucleation layer grown with the H2 case, in which the pyramidal shape of the nucleation layer was observed to be flattened during the initial step of pulsed-mode growth and then evolved into nanorods by Ga clustering on the top c-plane.

III-nitride core–shell nanorod array on quartz substrates

We report the fabrication of near-vertically elongated GaN nanorods on quartz substrates. To control the preferred orientation and length of individual GaN nanorods, we combined molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) with pulsed-mode metal–organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The MBE-grown buffer layer was composed of GaN nanograins exhibiting an ordered surface and preferred orientation along the surface normal direction. Position-controlled growth of the GaN nanorods was achieved by selective-area growth using MOCVD. Simultaneously, the GaN nanorods were elongated by the pulsed-mode growth. The microstructural and optical properties of both GaN nanorods and InGaN/GaN core–shell nanorods were then investigated. The nanorods were highly crystalline and the core–shell structures exhibited optical emission properties, indicating the feasibility of fabricating III-nitride nano-optoelectronic devices on amorphous substrates.

Emission Characteristics of InGaN/GaN Core-Shell Nanorods Embedded in a 3D Light-Emitting Diode

We report the selective-area growth of a gallium nitride (GaN)-nanorod-based InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well (MQW) core-shell structure embedded in a three-dimensional (3D) light-emitting diode (LED) grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and its optical analysis. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) observation revealed the high quality of the GaN nanorods and the position dependence of the structural properties of the InGaN/GaN MQWs on multiple facets. The excitation and temperature dependences of photoluminescence (PL) revealed the m-plane emission behaviors of the InGaN/GaN core-shell nanorods. The electroluminescence (EL) of the InGaN/GaN core-shell-nanorod-embedded 3D LED changed color from green to blue with increasing injection current. This phenomenon was mainly due to the energy gradient and deep localization of the indium in the selectively grown InGaN/GaN core-shell MQWs on the 3D architecture.

Selective-area growth of GaN microrods on strain-induced templates by hydride vapor phase epitaxy

In this paper, we discuss the influence of parameters such as type of carrier gas and NH3/HCl flow ratio on the growth of vertical GaN microstructures by selective-area growth (SAG) hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). On various strain-induced templates such as GaN/sapphire, GaN/Si, and AlN/Si, regular arrays of Ga-polar GaN microrods were properly achieved by adjusting the growth parameters. The photoluminescence and micro-Raman measurements reveal not only the crystal quality of the GaN microrods but also strain distribution. These results will give insight into the control of the morphology of GaN microrods in terms of the strain induced from templates in SAG-HVPE. The precisely controlled arrays of GaN microrods can be used for next-generation light-emitting diodes (LEDs) by realizing InGaN/GaN multi–quantum wells (MQWs) with a radial structure.

Structural and optical study of core–shell InGaN layers of nanorod arrays with multiple stacks of InGaN/GaN superlattices for absorption of longer solar spectrum

We report on the material and optical properties of core?shell InGaN layers grown on GaN nanorod arrays. The core?shell InGaN layers were well grown on polarization-reduced surfaces such as semipolar pyramids and nonpolar sidewalls. In addition, to compensate the biaxial strain between GaN and InGaN layers, we grew interlayers underneath a thick InGaN layer. Here, the interlayers were composed of multiple superlattice structures. We could observe that the indium composition of core?shell InGaN structures increased with the number of interlayers. This indicates that the absorption energy band of InGaN alloys can be better matched to the spectral irradiance of the solar spectrum in nature. We also implemented a simulation of Ga-polar and nonpolar InGaN-based solar cells based on the indium composition obtained from the experiments. The result showed that nonpolar InGaN solar cells had a much higher efficiency than Ga-polar InGaN solar cells with the same thickness of the absorption layer.