Growth and Fabrication of High External Quantum Efficiency AlGaN-Based Deep Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diode Grown on...

Growing III-V semiconductor materials on Si substrates for opto-electronic applications is challenging because their high lattice mismatch and different thermal expansion coefficients cause the epitaxial layers to have low quality. Here we report the growth of a high-quality AlN template on a micro-circle-patterned Si substrate by using NH₃ pulsed-flow multilayer AlN growth and epitaxial lateral overgrowth techniques. Then, we fabricated and characterized a deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diode (UV-LED) device using this AlN/patterned Si. By using standard lithography and inductively coupled plasma etching, the Si substrate was prepared with very high pattern density and was made deep enough to grow a thick AlN template with high crystal quality and very few threading dislocations, allowing for further re-growth of the deep UV-LED device. And by combining a transparent p-AlGaN contact layer, an electron blocking layer and using this high quality AlN template: a deep UV-LED device fabricated and showed a strong single sharp electroluminescence (EL) peak at 325 nm and achieved an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of about 0.03%, for a deep UV-LED grown on Si substrate.