Suppressing spontaneous polarization of p-GaN by graphene oxide passivation: augmented light output of GaN UV-LED

GaN-based ultraviolet (UV) LEDs are widely used in numerous applications, including white light pump sources and high-density optical data storage. However, one notorious issue is low hole injection rate in p-type transport layer due to poorly activated holes and spontaneous polarization, giving rise to insufficient light emission efficiency. Therefore, improving hole injection rate is a key step towards high performance UV-LEDs. Here, we report a new method of suppressing spontaneous polarization in p-type region to augment light output of UV-LEDs. This was achieved by simply passivating graphene oxide (GO) on top of the fully fabricated LED. The dipole layer formed by the passivated GO enhanced hole injection rate by suppressing spontaneous polarization in p-type region. The homogeneity of electroluminescence intensity in active layers was improved due to band filling effect. As a consequence, the light output was enhanced by 60% in linear current region. Our simple approach of suppressing spontaneous polarization of p-GaN using GO passivation disrupts the current state of the art technology and will be useful for high-efficiency UV-LED technology.