Sukkoo Jung

Demonstration of nonpolar a-plane InGaN/GaN light emitting diode on r-plane sapphire substrate

High crystalline a-plane (112¯0) GaN epitaxial layers with smooth surface morphology were grown on r-plane (11¯02) sapphire substrate by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The full width at half maximum of x-ray rocking curve was measured as 407 arc sec along c-axis direction, and the root mean square roughness was 1.23 nm. Nonpolar a-plane InGaN/GaN light emitting diodes were subsequently grown on a-plane GaN template, and the optical output power of 0.72 mW was obtained at drive current of 20 mA (3.36 V) and 2.84 mW at 100 mA (4.62 V) with the peak emission wavelength of 477 nm.

Nonpolar light emitting diode with sharp near-ultraviolet emissions using hydrothermally grown ZnO on p-GaN

Nonpolar n-ZnO/p-GaN heterojunction light emitting diode has been demonstrated with a-plane (112¯0) ZnO active layer grown by a facile low-cost solution growth method at low temperature of 90 °C. High quality nonpolar ZnO planar film without seed layer was directly formed on a-plane GaN template due to the anisotropic growth rates along the specific crystallographic directions. The turn on voltage of the device was as low as 3 V, and narrow stable UV-blue electroluminescence emissions with peak wavelength of 392 to 420 nm under various forward bias conditions at room temperature were observed.

High brightness nonpolar a-plane (11–20) GaN light-emitting diodes

We report on high brightness nonpolar a-plane InGaN/GaN LEDs using patterned lateral overgrowth (PLOG) epitaxy. High crystal-quality and smooth surfaces for a-plane GaN (a-GaN) films were achieved using PLOG with an array of hexagonal SiO2 patterns. The XRC FWHMs of as-grown PLOG a-GaN films were found to be 414 and 317 arcsec (450 and 455 arcsec for planar a-GaN films) along the c-axis and m-axis directions, respectively. Plan-view CL clearly reveals the periodic hexagonal patterns with higher band edge emission intensity, implying that the luminescence properties of a-GaN films lying above the SiO2 mask are improved. The light output powers of a-InGaN/GaN PLOG LEDs were measured to be 7.5 mW and 20 mW at drive currents of 20 mA and 100 mA, respectively. A negligible blue-shift was observed in the peak emission wavelength with increasing drive current up to 100 mA, indicating that there are no strong internal fields in nonpolar a-InGaN/GaN LEDs. We believe that nonpolar a-plane InGaN/GaN LEDs hold promise for efficient nitride emitters if the growth conditions are further optimized.

Characteristics of a-GaN films and a-AlGaN/GaN heterojunctions prepared on r-sapphire by two-stage growth process

The electrical properties, presence of deep electron and hole traps and photoluminescence spectra were measured for undoped a-GaN films grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) in a two-stage process using a high V/III ratio at the first stage and low V/III ratio at the second stage. Growth was performed on r-sapphire substrates with a high temperature GaN nucleation layer. The films showed a full width at half maximum of 450-470 arcseconds for the (11-20) x-ray rocking curve with little anisotropy with respect to the sample rotation around the growth direction. The stacking fault (SF) density determined by selective etching was ∼5 × 104 cm−1. The residual donor concentration was 1014–1015 cm−3, with a very low density (2.5 × 1013 cm−3) of electron traps located at Ec − 0.6 eV, which are believed to be one of the major non-radiative recombination centers in nonpolar GaN. Consequently, the films showed a high intensity of bandedge luminescence with negligible contribution from defect bands ...

Defect recombination induced by density-activated carrier diffusion in nonpolar InGaN quantum wells

We report on the observation of carrier-diffusion-induced defect emission at high excitation density in a-plane InGaN single quantum wells. When increasing excitation density in a relatively high regime, we observed the emergence of defect-related emission together with a significant efficiency reduction of bandedge emission. The experimental results can be well explained with the density-activated carrier diffusion from localized states to defect states. Such a scenario of density-activated defect recombination, as confirmed by the dependences of photoluminescence on the excitation photon energy and temperature, is a plausible origin of efficiency droop in a-plane InGaN quantum-well light-emitting diodes.

Reducing the efficiency droop by lateral carrier confinement in InGaN/GaN quantum-well nanorods

Efficiency droop is a major obstacle facing high-power application of InGaN/GaN quantum-well (QW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In this paper, we report the suppression of efficiency droop induced by the process of density-activated defect recombination in nanorod structures of a-plane InGaN/GaN QWs. In the high carrier density regime, the retained emission efficiency in a dry-etched nanorod sample is observed to be over two times higher than that in its parent QW sample. We further argue that such improvement is a net effect that the lateral carrier confinement overcomes the increased surface trapping introduced during fabrication.

Reduced efficiency droop of nonpolar a-plane (11-20) GaN-based light-emitting diodes by vertical injection geometry

Vertical nonpolar a-plane (11-20) InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been demonstrated by using laser lift-off technique. The forward voltage of the a-plane vertical LEDs was 4.3 V at 350 mA, which was reduced by 0.8 V compared to that of the a-plane lateral LEDs. The vertical geometry of the a-plane LEDs produced the higher quantum efficiency with a low efficiency droop and also enhanced the output power by more than 40%, when compared to those of a-plane lateral LEDs. These results can be attributed to the high thermal dissipation as well as uniform current spreading of the vertical geometry of the a-plane LEDs. Furthermore, elimination of the highly defected GaN nucleation layer after removing the sapphire substrates during the fabrication process can also enhance current injection efficiency, followed by the increase in the output power.

Effects of lateral overgrowth on residual strain and In incorporation in a-plane InGaN/GaN quantum wells on r-sapphire substrates

We investigated the effects of the patterned lateral over-growth on the residual strain in GaN templates and In incorporation in a-plane InGaN/GaN quantum wells grown on a r-sapphire substrate, by utilizing micro-photoluminescence and Raman scattering spectroscopy. Strong enhancement of emission intensity is observed from the wing area. We report a reduction in the residual strain and different In incorporation in the wing area. The InGaN quantum wells on the merged area have higher In composition with smaller residual strain of the GaN layers underneath.

Temperature Dependent Thermal Properties of a GaN‐based Laser Diode Analyzed by an Electrical Method

We report thermal properties of a high power GaN‐based laser diode depending on the ambient temperature, which are analyzed using forward voltage changes due to heat generation during a current injection. The increasing rate of junction temperature and the thermal resistance decrease with the ambient temperature rise. Decrease of resistivities of p‐doped layers at an elevated temperature and a thermoelectric effect at superlattice structures are considered as possible reasons for the temperature dependence.

A critical factor affecting on the performance of blue-violet InGaN multiquantum well laser diodes: Nonradiative centers

Carrier lifetime at room temperature (RT) was measured for blue-violet emitting InGaN multiquantum wells as a function of excitation intensity. The carrier lifetime of a p/n-doped waveguide sample (PNLD) was longer than those of undoped or n-doped waveguide samples. For PNLD, the long decay component became dominant at moderate excitation, in contrast to the others for which the fast decaying component remained dominant. The lifetime behavior of PNLD, in conjunction with its strong photoluminescence intensity, originates from the reduction of nonradiative centers. We conclude that the defect density is an important determinant of the RT performance of blue-violet laser diodes.