Xuanqi Huang

Optical properties of highly polarized InGaN light-emitting diodes modified by plasmonic metallic grating

We implement finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method to simulate the optical properties of highly polarized InGaN light emitting diodes (LEDs) coupled with metallic grating structure. The Purcell factor (Fp), light extraction efficiency (LEE), internal quantum efficiency (IQE), external quantum efficiency (EQE), and modulation frequency are calculated for different polarized emissions. Our results show that light polarization has a strong impact on Fp and LEE of LEDs due to their coupling effects with the surface plasmons (SPs) generated by metallic grating. Fp as high as 34 and modulation frequency up to 5.4 GHz are obtained for a simulated LED structure. Furthermore, LEE, IQE and EQE can also be enhanced by tuning the coupling between polarized emission and SPs. These results can serve as guidelines for the design and fabrication of high efficiency and high speed LEDs for the applications of solid-state lighting and visible-light communication.

Crystal orientation dependent intersubband transition in semipolar AlGaN/GaN single quantum well for optoelectronic applications

The optical properties of intersubband transition in a semipolar AlGaN/GaN single quantum well(SQW) are theoretically studied, and the results are compared with polar c-plane and nonpolar m-plane structures. The intersubband transition frequency, dipole matrix elements, and absorption spectra are calculated for SQW on different semipolar planes. It is found that SQW on a certain group of semipolar planes (55° < θ < 90° tilted from c-plane) exhibits low transition frequency and long wavelength response with high absorption quantum efficiency, which is attributed to the weak polarization-related effects. Furthermore, these semipolar SQWs show tunable transition frequency and absorption wavelength with different quantum well thicknesses, and stable device performance can be achieved with changing barrier thickness and Al compositions. All the results indicate that the semipolar AlGaN/GaN quantum wells are promising candidate for the design and fabrication of high performance low frequency and long wavelength optoelectronic devices.

Theoretical analysis of modulation doping effects on intersubband transition properties of semipolar AlGaN/GaN quantum well

The effects of modulation doping on the intersubband transition (ISBT) properties of semipolar AlGaN/GaN quantum well (QW) are investigated theoretically using QW doping, barrier doping, and barrier δ-doping schemes at 150 K. Important ISBT parameters such as intersubband transition energies, dipole matrix elements, and absorption spectra are calculated for QW structures on both semipolar ( 20 2 ¯ 1 ) (i.e., with weak polarization) and ( 10 1 ¯ 3 ) (i.e., with strong polarization) planes. For ( 20 2 ¯ 1 ) QW with weak polarization, it is found that high doping concentrations can cause a significant band bowing to the QW structures, which reduce the absorption coefficients and wavelengths. This band bowing effect will become stronger when doping layers are closer to the QW. For ( 10 1 ¯ 3 ) QW with a strong polarization, however, a weak band bowing effect is observed due to the large polarization and large band tilting of ( 10 1 ¯ 3 ) QW. The study shows that modulation doping is a promising method to modi...

Nonpolar and semipolar InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well solar cells with improved carrier collection efficiency

We demonstrate the nonpolar and semipolar InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well (MQW) solar cells grown on the nonpolar m-plane and semipolar ( 20 2 ¯ 1 ) plane bulk GaN substrates. The optical properties and photovoltaic performance of the nonpolar and semipolar InGaN solar cells were systematically studied, and the results were compared to the conventional polar c-plane devices. The absorption spectra, current density–voltage (J–V) characteristics, external quantum efficiency (EQE), and internal quantum efficiency (IQE) were measured for nonpolar m-plane, semipolar ( 20 2 ¯ 1 ) plane, and polar c-plane InGaN/GaN MQW solar cells. Nonpolar m-plane InGaN/GaN MQW solar cells showed the best performance across all devices, with a high open-circuit voltage of 2.32 V, a low bandgap-voltage offset of 0.59 V, and the highest EQE and IQE. In contrast, the polar c-plane device showed the lowest EQE despite the highest absorption spectra. This huge difference is attributed to the better carrier transport and collection o...

Active tracking system for visible light communication using a GaN-based micro-LED and NRZ-OOK

Visible light communication (VLC) holds the promise of a high-speed wireless network for indoor applications and competes with 5G radio frequency (RF) system. Although the breakthrough of gallium nitride (GaN) based micro-light-emitting-diodes (micro-LEDs) increases the -3dB modulation bandwidth exceptionally from tens of MHz to hundreds of MHz, the light collected onto a fast photo receiver drops dramatically, which determines the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of VLC. To fully implement the practical high data-rate VLC link enabled by a GaN-based micro-LED, it requires focusing optics and a tracking system. In this paper, we demonstrate an active on-chip tracking system for VLC using a GaN-based micro-LED and none-return-to-zero on-off keying (NRZ-OOK). Using this novel technique, the field of view (FOV) was enlarged to 120° and data rates up to 600 Mbps at a bit error rate (BER) of 2.1×10-4 were achieved without manual focusing. This paper demonstrates the establishment of a VLC physical link that shows enhanced communication quality by orders of magnitude, making it optimized for practical communication applications.

Characterizations of nonlinear optical properties on GaN crystals in polar, nonpolar, and semipolar orientations

We report the basic nonlinear optical properties, namely, two-photon absorption coefficient ( β), three-photon absorption coefficient ( γ), and Kerr nonlinear refractive index ( n kerr), of GaN crystals in polar c-plane, nonpolar m-plane, and semipolar ( 20 21 ¯) plane orientations. A typical Z-scan technique was used for the measurement with a femtosecond Ti:S laser from wavelengths of 724 nm to 840 nm. For the two-photon absorption coefficient ( β), similar values were obtained for polar, nonpolar, and semipolar samples, which are characterized to be ∼0.90 cm/GW at 724 nm and ∼0.65 cm/GW at 730 nm for all the three samples. For the Kerr nonlinear refractive index ( n kerr), self-focusing features were observed in this work, which is different from previous reports where self-defocusing features were observed on GaN in the visible and near-UV spectral regions. At 724 nm, n kerr was measured to be ∼2.5 0 × 10 − 14 cm 2 / W for all three samples. Three-photon absorption coefficients ( γ) were also determ...

Ultra-low turn-on voltage and on-resistance vertical GaN-on-GaN Schottky power diodes with high mobility double drift layers

This letter reports the implementation of double-drift-layer (DDL) design into GaN vertical Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) grown on free-standing GaN substrates. This design balances the trade-off between desirable forward turn-on characteristics and high reverse breakdown capability, providing optimal overall device performances for power switching applications. With a well-controlled metalorganic chemical vapor deposition process, the doping concentration of the top drift layer was reduced, which served to suppress the peak electric field at the metal/GaN interface and increase the breakdown voltages of the SBDs. The bottom drift layer was moderately doped to achieve low on-resistance to reduce power losses. At forward bias, the devices exhibited a record low turn-on voltage of 0.59 V, an ultra-low on-resistance of 1.65 mΩ cm2, a near unity ideality factor of 1.04, a high on/off ratio of ∼1010, and a high electron mobility of 1045.2 cm2/(V s). Detailed comparisons with conventional single-drift-layer (S...

Reliability analysis of InGaN/GaN multi-quantum-well solar cells under thermal stress

We investigate the thermal stability of InGaN solar cells under thermal stress at elevated temperatures from 400 °C to 500 °C. High Resolution X-Ray Diffraction analysis reveals that material quality of InGaN/GaN did not degrade after thermal stress. The external quantum efficiency characteristics of solar cells were well-maintained at all temperatures, which demonstrates the thermal robustness of InGaN materials. Analysis of current density–voltage (J–V) curves shows that the degradation of conversion efficiency of solar cells is mainly caused by the decrease in open-circuit voltage (Voc), while short-circuit current (Jsc) and fill factor remain almost constant. The decrease in Voc after thermal stress is attributed to the compromised metal contacts. Transmission line method results further confirmed that p-type contacts became Schottky-like after thermal stress. The Arrhenius model was employed to estimate the failure lifetime of InGaN solar cells at different temperatures. These results suggest that wh...

Low loss GaN waveguides at the visible spectral wavelengths for integrated photonics applications

We perform comprehensive studies on the fundamental loss mechanisms in III-nitride waveguides in the visible spectral region. Theoretical analysis shows that free carrier loss dominates for GaN under low photon power injection. When optical power increases, the two photon absorption loss becomes important and eventually dominates when photon energy above half-bandgap of GaN. When the dimensions of the waveguides reduce, the sidewall scattering loss will start to dominate. To verify the theoretical results, a high performance GaN-on-sapphire waveguide was fabricated and characterized. Experimental results are consistent with the theoretical findings, showing that under high power injection the optical loss changed significantly for GaN waveguides. A low optical loss ~2 dB/cm was achieved on the GaN waveguide, which is the lowest value ever reported for the visible spectral range. The results and fabrication processes developed in this work pave the way for the development of III-nitride integrated photonics in the visible and potentially ultraviolet spectral range for nonlinear optics and quantum photonics applications.

Fabrication and Characterization of Ultra-wide Bandgap AlN-Based Schottky Diodes on Sapphire by MOCVD

AlN Schottky diodes with various device geometries were fabricated on sapphire substrate and their temperature-dependent current–voltage characteristics were analyzed. At forward bias, high ideality factors were obtained, indicating a large deviation from the ideal thermionic emission model. At reverse bias, the breakdown voltage showed a negative temperature dependence, and the leakage current was well described using a 2-D variable-range hopping conduction model. Furthermore, the breakdown voltages and leakage currents of the devices showed a strong dependence on the surface distance between the ohmic and Schottky contacts, but a relatively small dependence on the area of the Schottky contacts. These results suggest surface states between ohmic and Schottky contacts play a more important role than the metal/AlN interface in determining the reverse breakdown and leakage current of AlN Schottky diodes. A quantitative study of AlN Schottky diodes at high temperature reveals a geometry-dependent surface breakdown electric field and surface leakage current. Surface passivation and treatments may enhance the device performances and impact the reverse breakdown and current leakage mechanisms. These results will serve as the guidance for the design and fabrication of future AlN electronic devices.