Advances of AlGaN-based High-Efficiency deep-UV LEDs

Hideki Hirayama
RIKEN, 2-1, Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan Abstract We demonstrated AlGaN-based multi-quantum-well (MQW) deep-ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with wavelengths in the range of 222-351 nm, fabricated on low threading dislocation density (TDD) AlN template on sapphire. A high internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of 50-80% was achieved from AlGaN or quaternary InAlGaN MQWs by fabricating them on low TDD AlN templates. Also, an electron injection efficiency (EIE) was markedly improved by using multi-quantum barrier (MQB). Over 20 mW cw output power was obtained for 256-275 nm LEDs, which will be useful for sterilization applications. The maximum external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) were 1.8 and 2.75% for 247 and 270 nm AlGaN-LEDs, respectively.

Introduction
Because of their wide direct transition energy range in UV, which is between 6.2 eV (AlN) and 3.4 eV (GaN), AlGaN and quaternary InAlGaN are attracting considerable attention as candidate materials for the realization of deep ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or laser diodes (LDs)[1]. DUV LEDs and LDs with emission wavelengths in the range of 220-350 nm have a lot of potential applications, such as, sterilization, water purification, medicine and biochemistry, light sources for high density optical recording, white light illumination, fluorescence analytical systems and related information sensing fields, air purification equipment, and zero-emission automobiles. In this report, I will mention about basic techniques for obtaining high-efficiency AlGaN DUV-LEDs and demonstrate advances of DUV-LEDs fabricated on sapphire substrates [1-6].

NH3 pulse-flow growth Migration Enhance Epitaxy Al rich condition= stable Al (+c) polarity
TMAl NH3
5s 3s 5s 3s 5s

AlN

AlN AlN

AlN

Sapphire
1. Growth of nucleation AlN layer (NH3 Pulse-flow) 2.

Sapphire
Burying growth with lateral enhancement growth mode (NH3 pulse-flow) 3.

Sapphire
Reduction of surface roughness with high-speed growth (continuous flow) 4.

Sapphire
Repeat 2 and 3

Reduction of threading dislocation density (TDD)

Crack-free thick AlN buffer with atomically flat surface

Fig. 1 Gas flow sequence and schematic growth control image used for NH3 pulse-flow multilayer (ML)-AlN growth technique.

Low-TDD AlN on Sapphire

The samples were grown on sapphire (0001) substrates by low-pressure metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (LP-MOCVD). In order to obtain low threading dislocation density (TDD), crack free AlN template with atomically flat surface, we used NH3 pulse-flow multi-layer (ML) growth method. Figure 1 shows gas flow sequence and schematic growth control image used for NH3 pulse-flow ML-AlN growth technique. The edge- and screw-type dislocation densities of ML-AlN were lower than 5108 and 4107 cm-2, respectively, as observed from the cross-sectional transmission electron microscope (TEM) image. We observed remarkable enhancement of DUV emission of AlGaN-QWs by fabricating them on the high-quality AlN template [2]. The PL intensity was increased by more than 100 times by reducing the XRC (10-12) FWHM from 1400 to 300 arcsec. The internal quantum efficiency (IQE) at room temperature were estimated to be 30-50% and over 80% for 280 nm-band emission AlGaN and InAlGaN MQW, respectively, from the temperature dependence of integrated PL intensity [4].

222-351 nm AlGaN-based DUV LEDs fabricated on low TDD AlN Templates

Figure 2 shows a schematic of the sample structure and emission image of an AlGaN MQW DUV LED fabricated on a ML-AlN template. We used a thin (1.3-1.7 nm-thick) QW in order to obtain a high IQE by suppressing the effects of the polarization field in the well. Ni/Au electrodes were used for both n-type and p-type electrodes. The size of the p-type electrode was 300300 m. Figure 3 shows electroluminescence (EL) spectra of the fabricated AlGaN and InAlGaN-MQW LEDs. Single-peaked operations were obtained for every sample. The efficiency of the AlGaN DUV-LED is not yet so high in comparison with that of blue LEDs, due to low electron injection efficiency (EIE) into the QW (10-30) by the electron leakage caused by low hole concentrations in the p-type AlGaN layers, as well as by inferior light extraction efficiencies (lower than 8%) due to strong UV absorption in the p-side electrodes. We have succeeded in increasing EIE from approximately 20 to over 80 % by introducing multi-quantum barrier (MQB) electron-blocking

978-1-4244-7113-3/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE

641

Output Power (mW)

layer (EBL). The output power was increased from 2.2 to 15 mW for 250 nm AlGaN LED by introducing MQB-EBL.
Ni/Au Electrode Ni/Au GaN;Mg Al0.87Ga0.13N;Mg Al0.98Ga0.02N;Mg E-Blocking Layer Al0.79Ga0.21N/ Al0.87Ga0.13N 3-layer MQW n-Al0.87Ga0.13N;Si

20

Max. EQE 2.75%

10

=270nm
1
AlGaN-LED with MQB
200 300 400 Wavelength (nm)

ML-AlN Buffer
(NH3 Pulse-Flow Method)

Sapphire Sub.

0 0

50 100 Current I (mA)

UV Output

Fig. 4 I-L and I-EQE characteristics for a 270 nm AlGaN-QW DUV LED.

102 Max. Output Power (mW) 10 1 10

-1 Using MQB TDD: 37108cm-2 Using High EBL

Fig. 2 Schematic sample structure and emission images of an AlGaN DUV LED.

Sterilization Wavelength TDD: 3109cm-2

AlGaN-QW DUV LEDs

Normalized Intensity
222nm 227nm 234nm 240nm 248nm 255nm 261nm Pulsed Pulsed CW CW CW CW CW

10-2 10-3 10-4 10-5 200

NTT 210nm 0.02W

TDD>21010cm-2 Emission is weak no single peak.

220

240 260 280 Wavelength (nm)

InAlGaN-QW DUV LED

282nm CW 342nm CW 351nm CW

Fig. 5 Output power of AlGaN-based DUV-LEDs for the various development stages obtained in our group.

CONCLUSIONS
We demonstrated AlGaN-based MQW DUV-LEDs with wavelengths in the range of 222-351 nm. A high-IQE of 50-80% was achieved from AlGaN or quaternary InAlGaN MQWs grown on low TDD AlN templates. Also, an EIE was markedly improved by using MQB-EBLs. Over 20 mW cw output power was obtained for 256-275 nm LEDs. The maximum EQEs were 1.8 and 2.75% for 247 and 270 nm AlGaN-LEDs, respectively.

Measured at RT

200

250

Wavelength (nm)

300

350

400

450

Fig. 3 EL spectra of AlGaN and InAlGaN-MQW LEDs. Figure 4 shows I-L and EQE characteristics for a 270 nm AlGaN-QW LED, measured under room temperature (RT) cw operation. The maximum EQE obtained was 1.8 and 2.75 % for 247 and 270 nm AlGaN LEDs, respectively. We also obtained the maximum output power of over 20 mW for 256-275 nm LED under RT cw operation. Figure 5 summarizes maximum output power of AlGaN and InAlGaN based DUV-LEDs fabricated on low TDD ML-AlN template achieved by our group. The output power of the 220-280 nm-band AlGaN-based LEDs was dramatically increased in the past 3 years, by reducing the TDD of AlN template on sapphire, and by introducing MQB EBLs. We obtained 15-22 mW cw power LEDs with wavelength between 250-270 nm, which is directly useful for sterilization application.

REFERENCES
[1] H. Hirayama, J. Appl. Phys. 97, 091101 1-19 (2005). [2] H. Hirayama, T. Yatabe, N. Noguchi, T. Ohashi, and N. Kamata: Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 071901 (2007). [3] H. Hirayama, N. Noguchi, T. Yatabe, and N. Kamata, Appl. Phys. Express, 1, 051101 (2008). [4] H. Hirayama, S. Fujikawa, N. Noguchi, J. Norimatsu,, T. Takano, K. Tsubaki, and N. Kamata, Phys. Stat. Sol. (a) 206, 1176 (2009). [5] H. Hirayama, N. Noguchi, and N. Kamata, Appl. Phys. Express, 3, 032102 (2010). [6] H. Hirayama, Y. Tsukada, N. Maeda, and N. Kamata, Appl. Phys. Express, 3, 031002 (2010).

642

EQE (%)
300