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Eco‐friendly and low‐cost aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) for the epitaxial growth of ultraviolet‐B (UVB) light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) on c‐Sapphire has the possibility of high external‐quantum efficiency (EQE). In this review paper a special growth techniques for 50% relaxed and 4 μm thick AlGaN buffer layer underneath the multi‐quantum wells (MQWs) are challenged to achieve a maximum internal‐quantum efficiency of 50–57% in 310–290 nm band UVB LEDs. The influence of a thin "Valley" layer in p‐type multi‐quantum barrier electron‐blocking layer on 2D hole generation and injection via intraband tunneling was attempted. Finally, the influence of soft polarized Mg‐doped p‐type Al‐graded AlGaN hole injection layer assisted by excimer laser annealing for better hole injection toward the MQWs was investigated and quite high hole concentration of 2 × 1016 cm−3 and resistivity of 24 Ω‐cm at room temperature was achieved. Consequently, the EQE of transparent 310 and 304 nm UVB LEDs, respectively, reached to a confirmed world record values of ≈5% and ≈10% with light powers of 29 and 40 mW on wafer. This EQE value can surpass 21% if flip‐chip, nanoPSS, photonic crystal, and lens with highly reflective p‐electrodes are incorporated in LED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrated high-efficiency deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (DUV-LEDs) by improving light-extraction efficiency (LEE) by using a transparent p-AlGaN contact layer and a highly-reflective p-type electrode. We fabricated DUV-LEDs with emission wavelengths between 265-288 nm using p-AlGaN contact layers with compositional wavelength at around 275 nm. The reflectivity of p-type electrode was increased to be approximately 70% by introducing Ni(1nm)/Al layers. The external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the 287 nm LED was increased from 2% to 5.5% by replacing conventional p-GaN contact layer by transparent p-AlGaN contact layer. The increase of LEE was estimated to be by approximately more than 1.7 times. The use of transparent p-AlGaN contact layer is considered to be basic and quite important technique in order to obtain high LEE in DUV LEDs. The EQE of DUV-LED would be much increased by optimizing the device structure and by combining with other approaches to improve LEE. (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AlGaN‐based deep‐ultraviolet light‐emitting diodes (DUV LEDs) have a wide range of applications and a large market is expected. However, the efficiency of DUV LEDs is still much lower than that of blue LEDs due to the quite low light‐extraction efficiency (LEE). We are developing high LEE DUV LEDs by introducing a transparent contact layer and a highly reflective Ni/Al p‐type electrode. In this work, we investigate optimization of the Ni layer thickness of the highly reflective Ni/Al p‐type electrode for AlGaN DUV LEDs. We find that the reflectivity in the UV region becomes higher as the thickness of the Ni layer becomes smaller; however, the external quantum efficiency (EQE) is reduced if the Ni layer is too thin (<0.8 nm). As a result, we find that the most appropriate Ni thickness for the Ni/Al electrode is 0.9 nm. We fabricate 279 nm AlGaN quantum well (QW) DUV LEDs with the optimized electrodes and demonstrate an enhancement in EQE by a factor of 1.8 and a maximum EQE of 9% under bare wafer measurement conditions. We also demonstrate a high output power of 33 mW under an injection current of 100 mA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AlGaN based deep‐ultraviolet light‐emitting diodes (DUV‐LEDs) have a wide range of applications and a large market is expected. However, the efficiency of DUV‐LEDs is still much lower than that of blue LEDs due to a quite low light‐extraction efficiency (LEE). We improved the LEE of DUV‐LEDs by using a superlattice (SL) hole spreading p‐AlGaN contact layer, a dot matrix Ni/Au electrode and an Al reflector. DUV‐LED samples in which the SL p‐AlGaN contact layer has various period lengths, and forms two different p‐type electrodes, a conventional Ni/Au electrode and a dot matrix Ni/Au electrode with an Al reflector are fabricated. By comparing these LED samples, it is confirmed that contact layers with relatively longer periods are suitable both for vertical hole injection and lateral spreading of the holes. By increasing the Al content and recovering the transparency of the SL p‐AlGaN contact layer, the LEE is increased by up to a factor of 1.6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• New developments about the electron-blocking mechanism in the UVB LED. • Al-graded AlGaN electron-blocking and p-AlGaN hole-source layers are implemented. • Efficiency droop at 500 mA is remarkably suppressed. • The operating voltages at 150 mA are significantly reduced from 64 to 24 V. • High IQE and high hole injection efficiency are confirmed in the UVB LED. Aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) based UVB LEDs are delivering an increase in efficiency under low current drive, however, the devices are confronted with high efficiency droop and high operating voltages during the measurement on bare-wafer under high current drive. Such issues in UVB LEDs are attributed to using conventional p-type multi-quantum-barrier electron-blocking layer (p-MQB EBL) and fixed Al-contents in the p-AlGaN hole-source layer (HSL). When the conventional p-MQB EBL and bulk p-AlGaN HSL was replaced by Al-graded ud-AlGaN EBL and Al-graded p-AlGaN HSL, respectively, the efficiency droop has been remarkably suppressed and almost uniform external-quantum efficiency (EQE) under high injection current was confirmed. Also, the operating voltages under 150 mA drive were significantly reduced from 64 V (conventional p-MQB EBL) to 24 V (new polarized ud-AlGaN EBL) in UVB LEDs. These improvements are attributed to the smooth valance band edge without any potential barrier in both Al-graded ud-AlGaN EBL and Al-graded p-AlGaN HSL for efficient injection efficiency. At the same time the new structure was considered useful for both blocking of high energy electron overshooting toward the p-side as well as Mg-diffusion toward the multi-quantum wells (MQWs) under high current drive. These experimental results were also confirmed by simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The crystalline quality improved with increasing the annealing temperature. • The crystalline quality was improved by further growth of AlN. • Decreased anisotropy of XRC implies a reduction in the density of stacking faults. Abstract AlGaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been studied for their use as highly efficient light sources in the deep ultraviolet (DUV) region. The spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization in c -plane AlGaN, produces a strong electric field, which degrades the performance of LEDs. To overcome this polarization problem, growth on less widely used substrates, such as those with semipolar/nonpolar orientations has been carried out. However, the expected improvements have not been forthcoming for AlGaN alloys in the DUV region because of the poor crystallinity obtained. Here, we report on the improved crystallinity of semipolar AlN grown on m -plane sapphire using a high-temperature annealing process. For (10-1-3) and (11-22) AlN layers grown on m -plane sapphire, the crystal quality improved with increasing annealing temperature up to 1700 °C. The crystallinity of (11-22) AlN layer was further improved by further growth of AlN. A best FWHM of 280arcsec was obtained for a 3-μm thick (11-22) AlN layer grown after high-temperature annealing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]