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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]

THz (QCLs) are promising large output power semiconductor‐based THz sources with narrow bandwidths and wide operating frequency ranges. However, the operating temperature of THz QCLs is still limited by the design of its active region. Matyas et al. (2012) theoretically predicted that AlGaAs/GaAs THz QCLs with higher optical gain could be obtained by introducing a variable barrier height structure (Matyas et al., J. Appl. Phys. 2012, 111, 103106). Based on the proposed variable barrier QC structure, we fabricate AlGaAs/GaAs three‐well type THz QCLs with an additional very thin second extraction barrier and a low barrier height emission barrier. With this device, we obtain lasing operation at 3.7 THz at a maximum operating temperature of 145 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing resistance of methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcusaureus to antibiotics is a major challenge faced by mankind in thehistory of medical science and according to United Nations, 700‐000 patients worldwide die every year from an infection with multidrug‐resistant organisms (MROs). Aluminum gallium nitride‐based 228 nm Far‐ultraviolet‐C (Far‐UVC) lightsources can be safely used as a germicidal application in both manned as wellas in unmanned environments against these MROs. Previously, the 228 nm Far‐UVC light‐emitting diode (LED) with emission power of 1 mW was reported by ourgroup, however, the value of external quantum efficiency (EQE) was not reportedusing conventional thick Ni (20 nm)/Au (100 nm) p‐electrode. Herein, animproved Far‐UVC LED on c‐Sapphire is attempted using a special technique in SR4000 type of metal‐organic chemical vapor deposition reactor to control the Al composition in n‐AlGaN buffer and across the 2 inch‐wafer. As a result, the light emission power of 1.8 mW and EQE of 0.32% in 228 nm Far‐UVC LED aresuccessfully achieved using very thin p‐electrode (Ni/Au). However, arelatively high junction temperature of ≈100°C around thejunction of Far‐UVC LED is observed. Finally, some simple heat‐sink modules forheat dissipation of Far‐UVC LED panel with light power of 30 mW are implemented. [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]

The emission performance of c‐sapphire‐grown deep‐UV (DUV) light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) at 254 and 258 nm is particularly poor. To overcome this critical limitation, herein, the influence of the Mg‐dopant concentration in a p‐AlGaN hole source layer (HSL) on donor–acceptor pair emission from solid‐state AlGaN‐based DUV LEDs in the 254–258 nm band is investigated. Further, the influence of substrate growth temperature (TS) on the photoluminescence (PL) emission efficiency and external quantum efficiency (EQE) is investigated. When the TS is increased from 1140 to 1170 °C for a p‐AlGaN HSL with a low Mg‐dopant concentration (70 sccm), the maximum power outputs of the fabricated DUV LED at the single peak emissions of 254 and 258 nm are enhanced to 3.4 and 14 mW, respectively. Moreover, the maximum EQE of the 254 and 258 nm‐band DUV LEDs increases by ≈1.2% and 2.2%, respectively, on the wafer during both continuous‐wave and pulsed operation at room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The epitaxial growth of transparent p‐AlGaN‐based ultraviolet‐A (UVA), light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) may solve the problems of UVA light absorption through the GaN buffers and p‐GaN contact layers at (326–341 nm)‐band emission, respectively. Herein, first, an idea of conventional n‐AlGaN buffer layer (BL) and n‐AlGaN electron source layer (ESL) for the suppression of threading dislocation density (TDD) and enhancement of internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of UVA emitters, using low‐pressure metalorganic vapor‐phase epitaxy (LP‐MOVPE) is attempted. As a result, the total‐TDDs is reduced from ≈ 3 × 109 cm−2 to ≈ 1 × 109 cm−2 in the n‐AlGaN ESL of a 326 nm‐band UVA multiquantum‐wells (MQWs), and IQE is also improved from 30% to 52% at room temperature (RT). Second, an idea of Si‐doped n‐AlGaN Superlattices (SLs)‐based BL, using LP‐MOVPE is challenged. Subsequently, a record IQE of 56% at RT and high crystal quality in 341 nm‐band UVA MQWs are observed. Finally, using a well thickness ≈ 2 nm in SLs‐based UVA MQWs, the light power and external quantum efficiency (EQE), respectively, are remarkably enhanced from 3.5 mW and 0.5% to 7.5 mW and 1.4% on wafer in 341 nm‐Band UVA LED. The perspective for the improvements of UVA emitter's performances is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influence of Undoped-AlGaN Final Barrier of MQWs on the Performance of Lateral-Type UVB LEDs 17 mW semiconducting aluminium gallium nitride (AlGaN)-based ultraviolet-B (UVB) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) at 300 nm emission grown on AlN template are expected to be useful for production of vitamin D3 in the human body as well as for killing of tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) in tomato. UV-light power is improved in AlGaN UVB LED using optimized undoped-AlGaN final barrier of the quantum well. [Extracted from the article]

Aluminium gallium nitride (AlGaN)‐based ultraviolet‐B light‐emitting diodes (UVB LEDs) are expected to offer smart size, wider choice of UVB light emission in the wavelengths range of 280 nm > λ > 320 nm, and low cost as well as low power consumption compared with other UV light sources including toxic mercury UV‐lamps. The hole‐tunneling from p‐AlGaN side of UVB LED into the multi‐quantum‐wells (MQWs) is strongly dependent on the thickness (TFB) and Al‐contents of undoped (ud)‐AlGaN final barrier (FB). Herein, the photoluminescence (PL) efficiency from MQWs of the UVB LED devices is investigated and compared with the electroluminescence (EL) spectra as a function of TFB. Subsequently, the dependence of PL efficiency, external quantum efficiency (EQE), and light output power on the TFB of UVB LEDs is attempted, using the same growth condition for all samples except variation in TFB. When TFB is set to 6–7 nm, improvements in the EQE and light output power, respectively, from 4.3% and 7 mW to the high values of 5.6% and 17 mW in emission band of 295–300 nm under continuous‐wave (cw) at room temperature (RT) are achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]