GaN外延用蓝宝石衬底的图形化研究进展

因蓝宝石具有良好的稳定性能,且其生产技术成熟,是目前异质外延GaN应用最广泛的衬底材料之一.采用图形化蓝宝石衬底技术可以降低GaN外延层材料的位错密度,提高LED的内量子效率,同时提高LED出光效率提高,近年来引起了国内外的广泛关注.概述了图形化蓝宝石衬底的研究进展,包括图形化蓝宝石衬底的制备工艺、图形尺寸、图形形状及图形化蓝宝石衬底的作用机理;详细介绍了凹槽状、圆孔状、圆锥形、梯形和半球状5种图形形状,并分析了GaN材料在不同图形形状的图形化蓝宝石衬底上的生长机理及不同图形形状对GaN基LED器件性能的影响.对图形化蓝宝石衬底技术的研究方向进行了展望,提出了亟待研究和解决的问题.     

LED蓝宝石图形化衬底的研究进展及发展趋势

图形化蓝宝石衬底作为GaN基LED照明外延衬底材料,由于其能降低GaN外延薄膜的线位错密度和提高LED的光萃取效率的显著性能在近几年来引起国内外许多科研机构和厂商的广泛兴趣。从衬底的制备工艺、图形尺寸角度出发,综述了图形化蓝宝石衬底GaN基LED的研究进展,并对其未来在大功率照明市场的应用进行了展望。     

基于图形化蓝宝石衬底的HB-LED研究进展

为了制作高亮度LED,需要在图形化蓝宝石衬底上生长GaN材料。通过光刻在平坦蓝宝石衬底上制作掩膜图形,通过刻蚀将图形转移到蓝宝石衬底,得到图形化蓝宝石衬底。在图形化蓝宝石衬底上进行GaN的侧向外延生长,并做后续处理,就制成了基于图形化蓝宝石衬底的高亮度LED。图形化蓝宝石衬底上GaN的侧向外延生长使得外延材料的位错密度从1010 cm-2降低到107 cm-2,这减少了发生非辐射复合的载流子,多量子阱发射更多的光子,LED的内量子效率提高。此外,图形化蓝宝石衬底能够有效散射从多量子阱射出的光线,使得出射光射到逃离区的几率更大,从而提高光萃取率。内量子效率和光萃取率的提高大大改善了LED的光电特性。     

LED用图形化蓝宝石衬底的干法刻蚀工艺

近年来,图形化蓝宝石衬底(PSS)作为GaN基LED外延衬底材料被广泛应用。采用感应耦合等离子体(ICP)技术对涂覆有光刻胶阵列图案的蓝宝石衬底进行刻蚀。通过研究及优化不同ICP刻蚀工艺参数对刻蚀速率和选择比的影响,分别成功制备出蒙古包形和圆锥形图形化蓝宝石衬底片,并在其表面完成InGaN/GaN多量子阱外延及芯片工艺。借助光致发光和电致发光等手段测试其LED器件的光电学性能。实验结果发现圆锥形的图形化蓝宝石衬底拥有更强的光功率和更窄的半峰宽,说明这种形貌的衬底在GaN外延时有效减少了晶格失配造成的缺陷,提高了晶体质量,从而更有效地增加LED出光效率。     

图形化蓝宝石衬底工艺研究进展

图形化蓝宝石衬底(PSS)技术是一种提高LED亮度的新技术。结合光刻和刻蚀工艺制作图形化蓝宝石衬底。有关图形化蓝宝石衬底的研究主要集中在对光刻和刻蚀工艺的研究,以及图形化蓝宝石衬底提高LED亮度的机理。目前微米级图形化蓝宝石衬底已经得到普遍的应用,与基于平坦蓝宝石衬底的LED相比,PSS-LED的发光功率提高了30%左右。图形化蓝宝石衬底技术的发展经历了从早期的条纹状图形到目前应用较广的半球形和锥形图形,从湿法刻蚀到干法刻蚀,从微米级到纳米级图形的演变。由于能够显著提高LED亮度,纳米级图形化蓝宝石必将得到广泛的运用。     

生长在图形化蓝宝石衬底上的GaN薄膜光学性质研究

图形化蓝宝石衬底（PSS）技术作为提高LED发光效率的方法之一,一直备受关注。研究了PSS上生长的GaN薄膜的表面形貌、吸收光谱、红外光谱、拉曼散射（Raman）和太赫兹光谱等,并与常规蓝宝石衬底上的GaN外延薄膜进行对比。结果表明,PSS上生长的GaN外延薄膜的表面形貌、光提取效率（LEE）得到明显改善。此研究成果对进一步提高GaN基短波（蓝/紫光）发光二极管（LED）的发光效率具有一定的借鉴意义,为进一步拓展PSS器件的太赫兹响应提供了依据。     

图形化蓝宝石衬底技术综述

采用图形化蓝宝石衬底(PSS)技术可以降低GaN外延层材料位错密度,提高了发光二极管(LED)的内量子效率(IQE),同时使LED光析出率(LEE)提高。基于PSS技术可以制作高效GaN基高亮度LED。基于已公开发表文献对用于高效LED制作的PSS技术做了综述,介绍了PSS技术演化、PSS的制作方法与主要的图形结构、PSS上GaN外延层生长机制以及PSS对LED性能的影响。PSS结构对LED的IQE与LEE均有提高,但对二者哪个提高更为有效没有定论,最近的研究结果倾向于以为对LEE提高更为有效。PSS对LED的IQE与LEE提高的机制目前并不是非常清楚,对公开发表的PSS对LEE的提高机制提出了不同看法。不同PSS结构与尺寸对GaN质量以及LED性能的影响方面的研究目前还非常缺乏。     

玻璃衬底上制备GaN薄膜的研究进展

近年来,GaN基发光二极管(LED)的发展异常迅速,以玻璃为衬底的LED具有成本低、可大面积化生产等优点而引起了国内外许多科研机构的广泛研究兴趣.但由于普通玻璃较低的软化温度(500～ 600℃)以及与GaN之间存在较大的晶格失配问题,一直阻碍其发展.重点综述了玻璃衬底上生长GaN薄膜的方法以及改善外延层晶体质量的技术.分别介绍了两种在普通玻璃上生长GaN的方法,即低温生长和局部加热生长,同时详述了采用缓冲层和横向外延过生长(ELO)技术对外延GaN晶体质量的影响.对局部加热、ELO等技术在玻璃衬底LED方面的应用进行了分析和预测,认为以玻璃为衬底的LED终会取得快速地发展.     

蓝宝石上横向外延GaN薄膜

在蓝宝石衬底上利用金属有机物气相外延(MOCVD)方法对横向外延(ELO)GaN薄膜的生长条件进行了研究.在蓝宝石衬底上利用化学腐蚀的方法刻饰出图案,再沉积低温GaN缓冲层作为外延层的子晶层,以降低外延层与衬底的晶格失配与热失配,制备出低位错密度的GaN外延层.分别利用X射线衍射、原子力显微镜及湿法腐蚀对外延层进行检测.     

蓝宝石上横向外延GaN薄膜

在蓝宝石衬底上利用金属有机物气相外延(MOCVD)方法对横向外延(ELO)GaN薄膜的生长条件进行了研究.在蓝宝石衬底上利用化学腐蚀的方法刻饰出图案,再沉积低温GaN缓冲层作为外延层的子晶层,以降低外延层与衬底的晶格失配与热失配,制备出低位错密度的GaN外延层.分别利用X射线衍射、原子力显微镜及湿法腐蚀对外延层进行检测.     

Investigation of light output performance for gallium nitride-based light-emitting diodes grown on different shapes of patterned sapphire substrate

GaN-based blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on various patterned sapphire substrates (PSSs) are investigated in detail. Hemispherical and triangular pyramidal PSSs have been applied to improve the performance of LEDs compared with conventional LEDs grown on planar sapphire substrate. The structural, electrical, and optical properties of these LEDs are investigated. The leakage current is related to the crystalline quality of epitaxial GaN films, and it is improved by using the PSS technique. The light output power and emission efficiency of the LED grown on triangular pyramidal PSS with optimized fill factor show the best performance in all the samples, which indicates that the pattern structure and fill factor of the PSS are related to the capability of light extraction.     

Si衬底氮化物LED器件的研究进展

通过对比分析目前氮化物LED的三种主要衬底即蓝宝石、SiC与Si的技术特点,指出了发展Si衬底LED的重要意义。详细介绍了目前国内外Si衬底LED的研究现状,解析了在Si衬底上制备LED的多种新型技术,主要包括以提高薄膜沉积质量为目的的缓冲层技术、激光脱离技术、图案掩模技术、阳极氧化铝技术,以及以提高光提取率为宗旨的镜面结构技术和量子阱/量子点技术。这些新型技术与传统的MOCVD,HVPE,MBE等制备技术相结合,在很大程度上克服了Si衬底的不足,使Si衬底上氮化物LED展现出广阔的发展前景。     

Improvement of the performance of GaN-based LEDs grown on sapphire substrates patterned by wet and ICP etching

Sapphire substrates patterned by a selective chemical wet and an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching technique was proposed to improve the performance of GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs). GaN-based LEDs were fabricated on sapphire substrates through metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The LEDs fabricated on the patterned substrates exhibit improved device performance compared with the conventional LED fabricated on planar substrates when growth and device fabricating conditions were the same. The light output powers of the LEDs fabricated on wet-patterned and ICP-patterned substrates were about 37% and 17% higher than that of LEDs on planar substrates at an injection current of 20 mA, respectively. The enhancement is attributable to the combination of the improvement of GaN-based epilayers quality and the improvement of the light extraction efficiency.     

Increased effective reflection and transmission at the GaN-sapphire interface of LEDs grown on patterned sapphire substrates

The effect of patterned sapphire substrate (PSS) on the top-surface (P-GaN-surface) and the bottom-surface (sapphire-surface) of the light output power (LOP) of GaN-based LEDs was investigated, in order to study the changes in reflection and transmission of the GaN-sapphire interface. Experimental research and computer simulations were combined to reveal a great enhancement in LOP from either the top or bottom surface of GaN-based LEDs, which are prepared on patterned sapphire substrates (PSS-LEDs). Furthermore, the results were compared to those of the conventional LEDs prepared on the planar sapphire substrates (CSS-LEDs). A detailed theoretical analysis was also presented to further support the explanation for the increase in both the effective reflection and transmission of PSS-GaN interface layers and to explain the causes of increased LOP values. Moreover, the bottom-surface of the PSS-LED chip shows slightly increased light output performance when compared to that of the top-surface. Therefore, the light extraction efficiency (LEE) can be further enhanced by integrating the method of PSS and flip-chip structure design.     

III-Nitride-Based Light-Emitting Diodes With GaN Micropillars Around Mesa and Patterned Substrate

In this paper, the textured-sidewall mesa and GaN microsize pillars (?-pillars) around the mesa region were fabricated on III-nitride light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with a patterned sapphire substrate (PSS). We demonstrated that the light-waveguide mode outside the mesa region of III-nitride LEDs could be disrupted by a GaN ?-pillar around the mesa region and PSS. We found that the power enhancement of LEDs with textured sidewall, ?-pillars around the mesa, and PSS from ray-tracing simulation was about 65% larger than that of conventional LEDs. It was found that we could achieve a high power enhancement of about 60% of LEDs with textured sidewall, ? -pillars around the mesa, and a patterned substrate, and it was close to the result of simulation. It was also found that the light intensity outside the mesa region with ? -pillars of LEDs with or without a patterned substrate would decay in proportion to the distance away from the mesa edge, by studying the light emission intensity image of the whole LEDs. The decay lengths for the textured sidewall and ?-pillars around the mesa LEDs with or without a patterned substrate are 12 and 17 ?m, respectively. We understand that the light outside the mesa region could be extracted earlier by introducing the GaN ?-pillars and patterned substrate together.     

六棱锥衬底旋转角影响LED效率的模拟探究

以正六棱锥型图形化蓝宝石衬底GaN基LED为研究对象,设计并探讨了正六棱锥图案在排布过程中旋转角的变化对LED出光效率的影响,得出各面光通量随旋转角变化的规律:在0°～30°范围,随着旋转角的增大,总光通量与顶部光通量有下降趋势,底部光通量有增长趋势。当六棱锥旋转角在0°～6°范围内时,LED芯片的总光通量和顶部光通量均有最优值。综合考虑,旋转角为0°～6°的六棱锥型图形衬底对正装LED的出光效率有最佳的优化效果。     

Enhancement of photo- and electro-luminescence of GaN-based LED structure grown on a nanometer-scaled patterned sapphire substrate

In this study, a 2 in. sized a highly periodic nanometer-scaled patterned sapphire substrate (NPSS) was fabricated using nanoimprint lithography (NIL) and inductively coupled plasma etching to improve the light-extraction efficiency of GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs). A blue LED structure was grown on the nanometer-scale patterned sapphire substrates, and the photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) were measured to confirm the effectiveness of the nanometer-scaled patterns on sapphire. An improvement in luminescence efficiency was observed when NPSS was applied; 2 times stronger PL intensity and 2.8 times stronger EL intensity than the LED structure grown on the unpatterned sapphire wafers were measured. These results show highly periodic nanometer-scaled patterns create multi-photon scattering and effectively enhance the light-extraction efficiency of LEDs.     

380‐nm Ultraviolet Light‐Emitting Diodes with InGaN/AlGaN MQW Structure

In this paper, we demonstrate the capabilities of 380‐nm ultraviolet (UV) light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) using metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The epi‐structure of these LEDs consists of InGaN/AlGaN multiple quantum wells on a patterned sapphire substrate, and the devices are fabricated using a conventional LED process. The LEDs are packaged with a type of surface mount device with Al‐metal. A UV LED can emit light at 383.3 nm, and its maximum output power is 118.4 mW at 350 mA.