Wu Jiejun

GaN substrate and GaN homo-epitaxy for LEDs: Progress and challenges*

After a brief review on the progresses in GaN substrates by ammonothermal method and Na-flux method and hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) technology, our research results of growing GaN thick layer by a gas flow-modulated HVPE, removing the GaN layer through an efficient self-separation process from sapphire substrate, and modifying the uniformity of multiple wafer growth are presented. The effects of surface morphology and defect behaviors on the GaN homo-epitaxial growth on free standing substrate are also discussed, and followed by the advances of LEDs on GaN substrates and prospects of their applications in solid state lighting.

Effects of V/III ratio on species diffusion anisotropy in the MOCVD growth of non-polar a-plane GaN films

Non-polar a-plane (110) GaN films have been grown on r-plane (102) sapphire substrates by metal organic chemical vapour deposition. The influences of V/III ratio on the species diffusion anisotropy of a-plane GaN films were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, cathodoluminescence and high-resolution x-ray diffraction measurements. The anisotropy of a-plane GaN films may result from the different migration length of adatoms along two in-plane directions. V/III ratio has an effect on the growth rates of different facets and crystal quality. The stripe feature morphology was obviously observed in the film with a high V/III ratio because of the slow growth rate along the [100] direction. When the V/III ratio increased from 1000 to 6000, the in-plane crystal quality anisotropy was decreased due to the weakened predominance in migration length of gallium adatoms.

Optical Defect in GaN-Based Laser Diodes Detected by Cathodoluminescence

GaN-based laser diodes (LDs) with 399 nm wavelength are grown on sapphire substrates by metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). Electroluminescence spectra of the fabricated LDs show that the LDs from some grown wafers failed to emit laser. The SEM and XRD results show the similar surface morphology and interface qualities of multi quantum wells (MQWs) and super-lattices between LDs that succeed and fail to emit laser. However, the cathodoluminescence (CL) measurements reveal a kind of optical defect rather than structural defect in un-emitted LDs. Further depth-dependent CL imaging observation indicates that such optical defects originate from the MQWs to the surface of LDs as a non-irradiative recombination centre that should cause the failure of laser emitting of LDs.