W. C. Lai

Nitride-based LEDs with an SPS tunneling contact Layer and an ITO transparent contact

The indium-tin-oxide [ITO(80 nm)] and Ni(5 nm)-Au(10 nm) films were separately deposited on glass substrates, p-GaN layers, n/sup +/-InGaN-GaN short-period-superlattice (SPS) structures, and nitride-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs). It was found that ITO on n/sup +/-SPS structure could provide us an extremely high transparency (i.e., 93.2% at 465 nm) and also a reasonably small specific contact resistance of 1.6/spl times/10/sup -3//spl Omega//spl middot/cm/sup 2/. Although the forward voltage which corresponds to 20-mA operating current for LED with ITO on n/sup +/-SPS upper contact was slightly higher than that of the LED with Ni-Au on n/sup +/-SPS upper contact, a 30% higher output intensity could still be achieved by using ITO on n/sup +/-SPS upper contact. Moreover, the output power of packaged LED with ITO was about twice as large as that of the other conventional Ni-Au LEDs.

Nitride-based LEDs with textured side walls

Nitride-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with textured side walls were fabricated. By using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition SiO/sub 2/ layer as the etching mask, we successfully etched the nitride epitaxial layers to achieve wavelike side walls. It was found that such wavelike side walls could mainly enhance the light output at the horizontal directions. With a 20-mA current injection, it was found that the output powers of the LED with textured side walls and normal LED were 9.3 and 8.4 mW, respectively. Furthermore, it was found that such textured side walls will not result in a higher operation voltage.

In0.23Ga0.77N/GaN MQW LEDs with a low temperature GaN cap layer

Abstract Mg-doped p-GaN epitaxial layers prepared at different temperatures were prepared and characterized. It was found that we could achieve a higher hole concentration and a rough surface by reducing the growth temperature down to 800 °C. In 0.23 Ga 0.77 N/GaN multiquantum well (MQW) light emitting diodes (LEDs) with such a low 800 °C-grown p-GaN cap layer were also fabricated. It was found that we could enhance the LED output intensity by more than 90% with the low 800 °C-grown p-GaN cap layer, as compared to the conventional high 1000 °C-grown p-GaN cap layer.

GaN Schottky barrier photodetectors with a low-temperature GaN cap layer

By using organometallic vapor phase epitaxy, we have prepared i-GaN/low-temperature (LT) GaN/Ni/Au (sample A) and i-GaN/Ni/Au (sample B) Schottky barrier UV photodiodes (PDs). It was found that we could significantly reduce the leakage current and achieve a much larger photocurrent to dark current contrast ratio by introducing a LT GaN on top of the conventional nitride-based UV PDs. With incident light wavelength of 350 nm and a −1 V reverse bias, it was found that the measured responsivity was around 0.1 and 0.37 A/W for samples A and B, respectively. Furthermore, it was found that the operation speed of sample A is slower than that of sample B due to the highly resistive LT–GaN layer induced large RC time constant.

Characterization of GaN Schottky barrier photodetectors with a low-temperature GaN cap layer

By using organometallic vapor phase epitaxy we have prepared i-GaN/low temperature (LT) GaN/Ni/Au (sample A) and i-GaN/Ni/Au (sample B) Schottky barrier ultraviolet (UV) photodiodes (PDs). It was found that we could significantly reduce leakage current and achieve a much larger photocurrent to dark current contrast ratio by introducing a LT GaN on top of the conventional nitride-based UV PDs. With an incident light wavelength of 350 nm and a −1 V reverse bias, it was found that the measured responsivity was around 0.1 and 0.37 A/W for samples A and B, respectively. Furthermore, it was found that the operation speed of sample A is slower than that of sample B due to the highly resistive LT GaN layer induced large RC time constant.

Si and Zn co-doped InGaN-GaN white light-emitting diodes

InGaN-GaN double heterostructure (DH) and multiquantum-well (MQW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with Si and Zn co-doped active well layers were prepared by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). It was found that we could observe a broad long-wavelength donor-acceptor (D-A) pair-related emission at 500/spl sim/560 nm. White light can thus be achieved by the combination of such a long-wavelength D-A pair emission with the InGaN band-edge-related blue emission. By increasing the DMZn mole flow rate to 360 nmole/min, we could achieve a Si and Zn co-doped In/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/N-GaN MQW LED with color temperature of 4100 K, color rendering index of 70, and color coordinates x=0.383, y=0.405. It was also found that the 20-mA forward voltage and the breakdown voltage of such Si and Zn co-doped In/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/N-GaN MQW LEDs were both smaller than those of the conventional phosphor-converted white LEDs.

Nitride-based blue LEDs with GaN/SiN double buffer layers

GaN epitaxial layers and nitride-based multiquantum well light emitting diode (LED) structures with conventional single GaN buffer and GaN/SiN double buffers were prepared by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. It was found that we could reduce defect density and thus improve crystal quality of the GaN epitaxial layers by using GaN/SiN double buffers. It was also found that we could use such a GaN/SiN double buffer to achieve more reliable nitride-based LEDs.

Nitride-based green light-emitting diodes with high temperature GaN barrier layers

High-quality InGaN-GaN multiquantum well (MQW) light-emitting diode (LED) structures were prepared by temperature ramping method during metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth. It was found that we could reduce the 20-mA forward voltage and increase the output intensity of the nitride-based green LEDs by increasing the growth temperature of GaN barrier layers from 700/spl deg/C to 950/spl deg/C. The 20-mA output power and maximum output power of the nitride-based green LEDs with high temperature GaN barrier layers was found to be 2.2 and 8.9 mW, respectively, which were more than 65% larger than those observed from conventional InGaN-GaN green LEDs. Such an observation could be attributed to the improved crystal quality of GaN barrier layers. The reliability of these LEDs was also found to be reasonably good.

InGaN/GaN blue light-emitting diodes with self-assembled quantum dots

InGaN/GaN blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with multiple quantum dot (MQD) active layers were successfully fabricated by using an interrupted growth method in metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). We have successfully formed nanoscale QDs embedded in quantum wells with a typical 3 nm height and 10 nm lateral dimension. It was found that a huge 68.4 meV blue shift in electroluminescence (EL) peak position as the injection current is increased from 3 to 50 mA for the MQD LED. The large EL blue shift reveals that deep localization of exitons (or carriers) originates from QDs will strengthen the band-filling effect as the injection current increases.

GaN-Based LEDs With AZO:Y Upper Contact

We report the fabrication of GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with ytterbium-doped alumina-zinc-oxide (AZO:Y) upper contact. It was found that AZO and AZO:Y are both highly transparent in the visible region with good thermal stability optically. However, it was found that AZO:Y is much more thermally stable electrically, as compared with AZO. Furthermore, it was found that the output power of GaN LEDs with AZO upper contact decreased significantly from 2.80 to 2.30 mW after 700°C annealing. With the same annealing condition, it was found that output power decreased only slightly from 2.77 to 2.69 mW for the LEDs with AZO:Y upper contact.