A dual-blue light-emitting diode based on strain-compensated InGaN-AlGaN/GaN quantum wells

A strain-compensated InGaN quantum well(QW) active region employing a tensile AlGaN barrier is analyzed.Its spectral stability and efficiency droop for a dual-blue light-emitting diode(LED) are improved compared with those of the conventional InGaN/GaN QW dual-blue LEDs based on a stacking structure of two In0.18Ga0.82N/GaN QWs and two In0.12Ga0.88N/GaN QWs on the same sapphire substrate.It is found that the optimal performance is achieved when the Al composition of the strain-compensated AlGaN layer is 0.12 in blue QW and 0.21 in blue-violet QW.The improvement performance can be attributed to the strain-compensated InGaN-AlGaN/GaN QW,which can provide a better carrier confinement and effectively reduce leakage current.     

Indium-Induced Effect on Polarized Electroluminescence from InGaN/GaN MQWs Light Emitting Diodes

Polarization-resolved edge-emitting electroluminescence （EL） studies of In GaN/GaN MQWs of wavelengths from near-UV （390nm） to blue （468nm） light-emitting diodes （LEDs） are performed. Although the TE mode is dominant in all the samples of InGaN/GaN MQW LEDs, an obvious difference of light polarization properties is found in the InGaN/GaN MQW LEDs with different wavelengths. The polarization degree decreases from 52.4% to 26.9% when light wavelength increases. Analyses of band structures of InGaN/GaN quantum wells and luminescence properties of quantum dots imply that quantum-dot-like behavior is the dominant reason for the low luminescence polarization degree of blue LEDs, and the high luminescence polarization degree of UV LEDs mainly comes from QW confinement and the strain effect. Therefore, indium induced carrier confinement （quantum-dot-like behavior） might play a major role in the polarization degree change of InGaN/GaN MQW LEDs from near violet to blue.     

Strain Effect on Photoluminescences from InGaN MQWs with Different Barriers Grown by MOCVD

InGaN/GaN MQWs, InGaN/AlGaN MQWs and InGaN/AlInGaN MQWs are grown on （0001） sapphire substrates by MOCVD. Membrane samples are fabricated by laser lift-off technology. The photoluminescence spec-ra of membranes show a blue shift of peak positions in InGaN/GaN MQWs, a red shift of peak positions in InGaN/AlGaN MQWs and no shift of peak positions in InGaN/AIlnGaN MQWs from those of samples with substrates. Different changes in Raman scattering spectra and HR-XRD （0002） profile of InGaN/AlInGaN MQWs, from those of InGaN/GaN MQWs and InGaN/AlGaN MQWs, are observed. The fact that the strain changes differently among InGaN MQWs with different barriers is confirmed. The AIlnGaN barrier could adjust the residual stress for the least strain-induced electric field in InGaN/AIlnGaN quantum wells.     

Wavelength Red-Shift of Long Wavelength InGaN/GaN Multi-Quantum Well by Using an InGaN Underlying Layer

Long-wavelength Ga2N based light-emitting diodes are of importance in full color displays, monofithic white lightemitting diodes and solid-state lighting, etc. However, their epitaxial growth faces great challenges because high indium （In） compositions of lnGaN are difficult to grow. In order to enhance In incorporation and lengthen the emission wavelength of a InGaN/GaN multi-quantum well （MQW）, we insert an InGaN underlying layer underneath the MQW. InGaN/GaN MQWs with various InGaN underlying layers, such as graded InyGal-yN material with linearly increasing In content, or InyGa1-yN with fixed In content but different thicknesses, are grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Experimental results demonstrate the enhancement of In incorporation and the emission wavelength redshift by the insertion of an InGaN underlying layer.     

Degradation of AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors with Different AlGaN Layer Thicknesses under Strong Electric Field

The degradation of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors （HEMTs） has a close relationship with a model of traps in AlGaN barriers as a result of high electric field. We mainly discuss the impacts of strong electrical field on the AlGaN barrier thickness of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. It is found that the device with a thin AlGaN barrier layer is more easily degraded. We study the degradation of four parameters, i.e. the gate series resistance RGate, channel resistance R channel, gate current IG,off at VGS=-5 and VDS=0.1 V, and drain current ID,max at VGS=2 and VDS=5 V. In addition, the degradation mechanisms of the device electrical parameters are also investigated in detail.     

Effect of Al Doping in the InGaN/GaN Multiple Quantum Well Light Emitting Diodes Grown by Metalorganic Chemical Vapour Deposition

The effect of Al doping in the GaN layer of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum-well light emitting diodes （LEDs） grown by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition is investigated by using photoluminescence （PL） and highresolution x-ray diffraction. The full width at half maximum of PL of A1 doped LEDs is measured to be about 12nm. The band edge photoluminescence emission intensity is enhanced significantly. In addition, the in-plane compressive strain in the Al-doped LEDs is improved significantly and measured by reciprocal space map. The output power of Al-doped LEDs is 130mW in the case of the induced current of 200mA.     

Structural and Optical Properties of Nonpolar m-Plane GaN and GaN-Based LEDs on γ-LiAlO_2

We report the structural and optical properties of nonpolar m-plane GaN and GaN-based LEDs grown by MOCVD on a 7-LiAlO2 （100） substrate. The TMGa, TMIn and NH3 are used as sources of Ga, In and N, respectively. The structural and surface properties of the epilayers are characterized by x-ray diffraction, polarized Raman scattering and atomic force microscopy （AFM）. The films have a very smooth surface with rms roughness as low as 2nm for an area of 10×10μm^2 by AFM scan area. The XRD spectra show that the materials grown on 7-LiAl02 （100） have （1 - 100） m-plane orientation. The EL spectra of the m-plane InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells LEDs are shown. This demonstrates that our nonpolar LED structure grown on the 7-LiAlO2 substrate is indeed free of internal electric field. The current voltage characteristics of these LEDs show the rectifying behaviour with a turn on voltage of 1-3 V.     

Theoretical and experimental analysis of the effects of the series resistance on luminous efficacy in GaN-based light emitting diodes

In this paper, a new equivalent circuit model of GaN-based light emitting diodes （LEDs） is established. The impact of the series resistance to luminous efficacy is simulated using the MATLAB software. GaN-based LEDs with different n- contact electrode materials （LEDs with Ni/Au and LEDs with Cr/Au） are fabricated. By comparing and analyzing the results of performances, we concluded that both the series resistance and the carrier loss could affect the luminous efficacy severely. LEDs with lower series resistance have higher luminous efficacy and its efficiency droop is alleviated simultaneously. To improve luminous efficacy, the fabrication process should be optimized for lower series resistance.     

Effect of Indium Ambient on Electrical Properties of Mg-Foped AlxGa1-xN

Mg-doped AlxGa1-xN epilayers were grown on AlN/sapphire templates by metal organic chemical vapor depo- sition （MOCVD） using an indium-assisted growth method. At room temperature, the resistivity of Mg-doped Alo.43Gao.57N epilayer grown under indium （In） ambient is of the order of 10^4Ω.cm, while the resistivity of Mg-doped Al0.43Ga0.57N grown without In assistance is of the order of 10^6Ω.cm. The ultraviolet light-emitting diodes （UV-LEDs） using the In-assisted Mg-doped Al0.43Ga0.57N as the p-type layers were fabricated to verify the function of indium ambient. It is found that there are a lower turn-on voltage and a lower diode series resistance in the UV-LEDs fabricated with p-type Al0.43Ga0.57 N layers grown under In-ambient.     

Improved mobility of AlGaN channel heterojunction material using an AlGaN/GaN composite buffer layer

The quality of an AlGaN channel heterojunction on a sapphire substrate is massively improved by using an AlGaN/GaN composite buffer layer. We demonstrate an Al0.4Ga0.6N/Al0.18Ga0.82N heterojunction with a state-of-the-art mobility of 815 cm2/(V·s) and a sheet resistance of 890Ω/ under room temperature. The crystalline quality and the electrical properties of the AlGaN heterojunction material are analyzed by atomic force microscopy, high-resolution X-ray diffraction, and van der Pauw Hall and capacitance–voltage(C–V) measurements. The results indicate that the improved electrical properties should derive from the reduced surface roughness and low dislocation density.     

Effects of strain-compensated AlGaN/InGaN superlattice barriers on the optical properties of InGaN light-emitting diodes

In this article, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)-grown InGaN multiple-quantum-well (MQW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with Al_0.03Ga_0.97N and Al_0.03Ga_0.97N/In_0.01Ga_0.99N superlattices-barrier layers on c-plane sapphire were studied for the influence of the strain-compensated barrier on the optical properties of the LEDs. High-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) analysis shows that the LEDs with a strain-compensated superlattice barrier (SC-SLB) have better interface quality than those using AlGaN. This difference in quality may result from the alleviation of strain relaxation in superlattice layers to improve the crystalline perfection of the epitaxial structures. It was also found that the degree of the exciton localization effect rises considerably as InGaN grows directly on the AlGaN barrier layers. However, the increase in the strength of the polarization fields within the MQWs (as evaluated from bias-dependent photoluminescence (PL) measurement) could reduce the radiative efficiency of the LEDs and shift their PL peaks toward long wavelengths. With suitable control of crystalline quality and the reduced quantum-confined Stark effect in the MQWs, the SC-SLB LEDs operating at 150-mA-current show a 22.3% increase in light output power as compared to their conventional counterparts.     

Dual-blue light-emitting diode based on strain-compensated InGaN-AlGaN/GaN quantum wells

Strain-compensated InGaN quantum well (QW) active region employing tensile AlGaN barrier is analyzed. Its spectral stability and efficiency droop for dual-blue light-emitting diode (LED) are improved compared with those of the conventional InGaN/GaN QW dual-blue LED based on stacking structure of two In_0.18Ga_0.82N/GaN QWs and two In_0.12Ga_0.88N/GaN QWs on the same sapphire substrate. It is found that the optimal performance is achieved when the Al composition of strain-compensated AlGaN layer is 0.12 in blue QW and 0.21 in blue-violet QW. The improvement performance can be attributed to the strain-compensated InGaN-AlGaN/GaN QW that can provide a better carrier confinement and effectively reduce leakage current.     

Effects of InGaN barriers with low indium content on internal quantum efficiency of blue InGaN multiple quantum wells

Blue In_0.2Ga_0.8N multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with In_xGa_{1 - x}N (x=0.01-0.04) barriers are grown by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy. The internal quantum efficiencies (IQEs) of these MQWs are studied in a way of temperature-dependent photoluminescence spectra. Furthermore, a 2-channel Arrhenius model is used to analyse the nonradiative recombination centres (NRCs). It is found that by adopting the InGaN barrier beneath the lowest well, it is possible to reduce the strain hence the NRCs in InGaN MQWs. By optimizing the thickness and the indium content of the InGaN barriers, the IQEs of InGaN/InGaN MQWs can be increased by about 2.5 times compared with conventional InGaN/GaN MQWs. On the other hand, the incorporation of indium atoms into the intermediate barriers between adjacent wells does not improve IQE obviously. In addition, the indium content of the intermediate barriers should match with that of the lowest barrier to avoid relaxation.     

InGaN/GaN p-i-n Photodiodes Fabricated with Mg-Doped p-InGaN Layer

Mg-doped p-InGaN layers with In composition of about 10% are grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The effect of the annealing temperature on the p-type behavior of Mg-doped InGaN is studied. It is found that the hole concentration in p-InGaN increases with a rising annealing temperature in the range of 600-850°C, while the hole mobility remains nearly unchanged until the annealing temperature increases up to 750°C, after which it decreases. On the basis of conductive p-type InGaN growth, the p-In_0.1Ga_0.9N/i-In_0.1Ga_0.9N/n-GaN junction structure is grown and fabricated into photodiodes. The spectral responsivity of the InGaN/GaN p-i-n photodiodes shows that the peak responsivity at zero bias is in the wavelength range 350-400nm.     

Enhancement of light-emission efficiency of ultraviolet InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well light emitting diode with InGaN underlying layer

Two ultraviolet InGaN/GaN light emitting diodes (LEDs) with and without InGaN underlying layer beneath the multiple quantum wells (MQWs) were grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. Based on the photoluminescence excitation measurements, it was found that the Stokes shift of the sample with a 10-nm-thick In_0.1Ga_0.9N underlying layer was about 64 meV, which was smaller than that of the reference sample without InGaN underlying layer, indicating a reduced quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) due to the decrease of the piezoelectric polarization field in the MQWs. In addition, by fitting the photon energy dependence of carrier lifetime values, the radiative recombination lifetime of the sample with and without InGaN underlying layer were obtained about 1.22 and 1.58 ns at 10?K, respectively. The shorter carrier lifetime also confirmed that the QCSE in the MQWs was weakened after inserting the InGaN underlying layer. In addition, although the depth of carrier localization in the sample with InGaN underlying layer became smaller, the nonradiative recombination centers (NRCs) inside it decreased, and thus suppressed the nonradiative recombination process significantly according to the electroluminescence measurement results. Compared to the reference sample, the efficiency droop behavior was delayed in the sample with InGaN underlying layer and the droop effect was also effectively alleviated. Therefore, the enhanced light-emission efficiency of ultraviolet InGaN/GaN MQW LEDs could be attributed to the decrease of QCSE and NRCs.     

Optical resonant modes in InGaN MQW/GaN micro-cone

Arrays of InGaN MQW/GaN micro-cone cavities with a base diameter of 3.3 μm were fabricated by ion beam etching. The micro-cones consist of a 58 nm thick multiple quantum wells (MQW) of In_0.22Ga_0.78N/In_0.06Ga_0.94N as well as a 1.5 μm thick epilayer of GaN. By using a novel optical ray tracing method, we have figured out four main types of optical resonant cavities inside the three-dimensional micro-cone, including two Fabry–Perot modes types as well as two whispering gallery modes types. Optical resonant modes from a single micro-cone could be clearly observed in the photoluminescence spectra at temperature up to 200 K under a pumping power density two orders of magnitude lower than that for the III-nitride semiconductor micro-disk or micro-ring cavity. The corresponding mode spacings of the experimental results agree well with the calculated ones. The advantages of this new class of cavity are discussed. These findings are expected to have impact on the design of the UV/blue micro-cavity laser diodes.     

Enhanced carrier injection in InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells LED with polarization-induced electron blocking barrier

In this report, we designed a light emitting diode (LED) structure in which an N-polar p-GaN layer is grown on top of Ga-polar In_0.1Ga_0.9N/GaN quantum wells (QWs) on an n-GaN layer. Numerical simulation reveals that the large polarization field at the polarity inversion interface induces a potential barrier in the conduction band, which can block electron overflow out of the QWs. Compared with a conventional LED structure with an Al_0.2Ga_0.8N electron blocking layer (EBL), the proposed LED structure shows much lower electron current leakage, higher hole injection, and a significant improvement in the internal quantum efficiency (IQE). These results suggest that the polarization induced barrier (PIB) is more effective than the AlGaN EBL in suppressing electron overflow and improving hole transport in GaN-based LEDs.     

Optical studies on a coherent InGaN/GaN layer

Photoluminescence (PL), photoluminescence excitation (PLE) and selective excitation (SE-PL) studies were performed in an attempt to identify the origin of the emission bands in a pseudomorphic In_0.05Ga_0.95N/GaN film. Besides the InGaN near-band-edge PL emission centred at 3.25 eV an additional blue band centred at 2.74 eV was observed. The lower energy PL peak is characterized by an energy separation between absorption and emission–the Stokes’ shift–(500 meV) much larger than expected. A systematic PLE and selective excitation analysis has shown that the PL peak at 2.74 eV is related to an absorption band observed below the InGaN band gap. We propose the blue emission and its related absorption band are associated to defect levels, which can be formed inside either the InGaN or GaN band gap.     

Performance characteristics of deep violet InGaN DQW laser diodes with InGaN/GaN superlattice waveguide layers

The effect of the indium (In) composition of In_xGa_1−xN (GaN) waveguide layers on the performance of deep violet In_0.082Ga_0.918N/GaN double quantum well (DQW) laser diodes (LDs) emitting at 390 nm output emission wavelength has been numerically investigated. Simulation results indicated that by increasing In composition of the In_xGa_1−xN waveguide layers, the threshold current decreases, the slope efficiency, and differential quantum efficiency (DQE) increase, whereas the output power decreases. The increase in the In composition of the InGaN waveguide layers increases the refractive index and consequently increases the optical confinement factor (OCF) which result in the increase in the slope efficiency and DQE and the decrease in the threshold current. The decreasing movement of electron and hole carriers from the bulk waveguide layers to the active regions also causes to decrease the output power. A new LD structure with InGaN/GaN superlattice (SL) waveguide layers has been proposed to exploit the increased OCF of InGaN waveguide structures, and the enhanced electron and hole mobilities and the tunneling effect of the periodic structure of the SL structures. The results also showed that the use of InGaN/GaN SL waveguide structures effectively improves the output power, slope efficiency and DQE and decreases the threshold current of the LD compared with (In)GaN bulk waveguide structure.     

Investigation of wavelength-dependent efficiency droop in InGaN light-emitting diodes

The physical mechanisms leading to the efficiency droop of InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are theoretically investigated. We first discuss the effect of Auger recombination loss on efficiency droop by taking different Auger coefficients into account. It is found that the Auger recombination process plays a significant nonradiative part for carriers at typical LED operation currents when the Auger coefficient is on the order of 10⁻³⁰ cm⁶ s⁻¹. Furthermore, the InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well (MQW) LEDs with varied indium compositions in InGaN quantum wells are studied to analyze the wavelength-dependent efficiency droop. The simulation results show that the wavelength-dependent efficiency droop is caused by several different effects including non-uniform carrier distribution, electron overflow, built-in electrostatic field induced by spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization, and Auger recombination loss. These internal physical mechanisms are the critical factors resulting in the wavelength-dependent efficiency droop in InGaN/GaN MQW LEDs.