Impact of Mg level on lattice relaxation in a p-AlGaN hole source layer and attempting excimer laser annealing on p-AlGaN HSL of UVB emitters

Ring geometric effect on the performance of AlGaN-based deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes

In this study, we fabricated and characterized various parallel flip-chip AlGaN-based deep-ultraviolet (DUV) micro-ring LEDs, including changes in ring dimensions as well as the p-GaN-removed region widths at the outer micro-ring, respectively (PRM LEDs). It is revealed that the LED chips with smaller mesa withstand higher current density and deliver considerably higher light output power density (LOPD), under the same proportion of the hole to the entire mesa column (before it is etched into ring) within the limits of dimensions. However, as the ring-shaped mesa decreases, the LOPD begins to decline because of etching damage. Subsequently, at the same external diameter, the optical performance of micro-ring LEDs with varied internal diameters is studied. Meanwhile, the influence of different structures on light extraction efficiency (LEE) is studied by employing a two-dimensional (2D)-finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. In addition, the expand of the p-GaN-removed region at the outer micro-ring as well as the corresponding effective light emission region have some influence to LOPD. The PRM-23 LED (with an external diameter of 90 µm, an internal diameter of 22 µm, and a p-GaN-removed region width of 8 µm) has an LOPD of 53.36 W/cm2 with a current density of 650 A/cm2, and an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 6.17% at 5 A/cm2. These experimental observations provide a comprehensive understanding of the optical and electrical performance of DUV micro-LEDs for future applications.

Core-shell GaN/AlGaN nanowires grown by selective area epitaxy

GaN/AlGaN core-shell nanowires with various Al compositions have been grown on GaN nanowire array using selective area metal organic chemical vapor deposition technique. Growth of the AlGaN shell using pure N₂ carrier gas resulted in a smooth surface for the nonpolar m-plane sidewalls with superior optical properties, whereas, growth using a mixed N₂/H₂ carrier gas resulted in a striated surface similar to the commonly observed morphology in the growth of nonpolar III-nitrides. The Al compositions in the AlGaN shells are found to be less than the gas phase input ratio. The systematic reduction in efficiency of Al incorporation in the AlGaN shells with increasing the Al molar flow in the gas phase is attributed to geometric loss, strain-limited Al incorporation, and increased gas phase parasitic reactions. Defect-related luminescence has been observed for AlGaN shells with Al content ≥ 30% and the origin of the defect luminescence has been determined as the (V_III-2O_N)^1- complex. Microstructural analysis of the AlGaN shells revealed that the dominant defects are partial dislocations. Growth of the nonpolar m-plane Al_xGa_1-xN/Al_yGa_1-yN quantum wells on the sidewalls of the GaN nanowires produced arrays with excellent morphology and optical emission, which demonstrated the viability of such a growth scheme for large area efficient ultraviolet LEDs as well as for next generation ultraviolet micro-LEDs.

Achieving 9.6% efficiency in 304 nm p-AlGaN UVB LED via increasing the holes injection and light reflectance

Crystal growth of eco-friendly, ultrawide bandgap aluminium gallium nitride (AlGaN) semiconductor-based ultraviolet-B (UVB) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) hold the potential to replace toxic mercury-based ultraviolet lamps. One of the major drawbacks in the utilisation of AlGaN-based UVB LEDs is their low efficiency of about 6.5%. The study investigates the influence of Al-graded p-type multi-quantum-barrier electron-blocking-layer (Al-grad p-MQB EBL) and Al-graded p-AlGaN hole source layer (HSL) on the generation and injection of 3D holes in the active region. Using the new UVB LED design, a significant improvement in the experimental efficiency and light output power of about 8.2% and 36 mW is noticed. This is accomplished by the transparent nature of Al-graded Mg-doped p-AlGaN HSL for 3D holes generation and p-MQB EBL structure for holes transport toward multi-quantum-wells via intra-band tunnelling. Based on both the numerical and experimental studies, the influence of sub-nanometre scale Ni film deposited underneath the 200 nm-thick Al-film p-electrode on the optical reflectance in UVB LED is investigated. A remarkable improvement in the efficiency of up to 9.6% and light output power of 40 mW, even in the absence of standard package, flip-chip, and resin-like lenses, is achieved on bare-wafer under continuous-wave operation at room temperature. The enhanced performance is attributed to the use of Al-graded p-MQB EBL coupled with softly polarised p-AlGaN HSL and the highly reflective 0.4 nm-thick Ni and 200 nm-thick Al p-electrode in the UVB LED. This research study provides a new avenue to improve the performance of high-power p-AlGaN-based UVB LEDs and other optoelectronic devices in III–V semiconductors.

Suppressing the efficiency droop in AlGaN-based UVB LEDs

The optoelectronic properties of semiconducting aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN)-based ultraviolet-B (UVB) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are crucial for real-world medical applications such as cancer therapy and immunotherapy. However, the performance of AlGaN-based UVB LED devices is still poor due to the low hole injection efficiency. Therefore, we have numerically investigated the performance of AlGaN-based UVB LEDs for the suppression of efficiency droop as well as for the enhancement of hole injection in the multiquantum wells (MQWs). The influence of the undoped (ud)-AlGaN final quantum barrier (FQB), as well as the Mg-doped multiquantum barrier electron blocking layer (p-MQB EBL), on the efficiency droop has been focused on specifically. To evaluate the performance of the proposed device, we have compared its internal quantum efficiency (IQE), carrier concentration, energy band diagram, and radiative recombination rate with the conventional device structure. Furthermore, the influence of Al composition in the Al-graded p-AlGaN hole source layer (HSL) on the operating voltages of the proposed UVB LEDs was considered. The simulation results suggest that our proposed structure has a high peak efficiency and much lower efficiency droop as compared to the reference structure (conventional). Ultimately, the radiative recombination rate in the MQWs of the proposed UVB LED-N structure has increased up to ∼73%, which is attributed to the enhanced level of electron and hole concentrations by ∼64% and 13%, respectively, in the active region. Finally, a high efficiency droop of up to ∼42% in RLED has been successfully suppressed, to ∼7%, by using the optimized ud-AlGaN FQB and the p-MQB EBL, as well as introducing Al-graded p-AlGaN HSL in the proposed UVB LED-N structure.