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The influence of residual impurities in quaternary InAlGaN active layers on the emission efficiency of 350 nm band ultraviolet light-emitting diodes on GaN substrates has been investigated. Secondary ion mass spectrometry and capacitance-voltage measurements have revealed that a large amount of oxygen is incorporated into the InAlGaN active layers owing to relatively low growth temperatures for Al-content epitaxial films. The increase of the InAlGaN growth temperature from 780 to 830 °C results in both the residual oxygen level decrease from 1×1018 to 4×1017 cm-3 and the output power improvement from 0.6 to 2.6 mW at 100 mA. It is also found that devices containing lower oxygen concentration in the InAlGaN active layers demonstrate a higher electroluminescence intensity ratio of the band-edge emission from the well layers to the donor-acceptor-pair emission from the p-type layers at low temperatures. These experimental results, in conjunction with numerical calculations, suggest that the reduction in the oxygen impurity level in the InAlGaN active layers has an effect on suppressing the electron leakage current into the p-type layers, and thus improving the internal quantum efficiency of InAlGaN-based ultraviolet light-emitting diodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

350-nm-band quaternary InAlGaN quantum-well (QW) structures have been fabricated on low-dislocation-density GaN substrates and sapphire substrates, and the impact of the In composition on ultraviolet emission efficiency has been investigated. Photoluminescence, cathodoluminescence, and atomic force microscopy measurements have revealed that with increasing In concentration, band-gap inhomogeneity in InAlGaN layers is promoted and quantum efficiency becomes less sensitive to dislocation densities. However, this does not necessarily result in the enhancement of QW emission efficiency, because both a decrease in growth temperature and an increase in Al concentration degrade the InAlGaN crystalline quality. It is found that improving the InAlGaN crystalline quality by increasing the growth temperature while maintaining an In fluctuation effect with minimal In composition is essential for highly efficient InAlGaN QWs. The utilization of the optimized InAlGaN growth condition significantly improves the output power of 350-nm-band light-emitting diodes on GaN and sapphire substrates to 7.4 mW at 400 mA and 2.9 mW at 200 mA, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to realize 250–350-nm-band high-efficiency deep ultraviolet (UV) emitting devices using group-III-nitride materials, it is necessary to obtain high-efficiency UV emission from wide-band-gap (In)AlGaN. The use of the In-segregation effect, which has already been used for InGaN blue emitting devices, is quite effective for achieving high-efficiency deep UV emission. We have demonstrated high-efficiency UV emission from quaternary InAlGaN-based quantum wells in the wavelength range between 290 and 375 nm at room temperature (RT) using the In-segregation effect. Emission fluctuations in the submicron region due to In segregation were clearly observed for quaternary InAlGaN epitaxial layers. An internal quantum efficiency as high as 15% was estimated for a quaternary InAlGaN-based single quantum well at RT. Such high-efficiency UV emission can even be obtained on high threading-dislocation density buffer layers. A comparison of electroluminescence is made between light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with InAlGaN, AlGaN, and GaN active regions fabricated on SiC substrates with emission wavelengths between 340 and 360 nm. The emission intensity from the quaternary InAlGaN UV-LED was more than one order of magnitude higher than that from the AlGaN or GaN UV-LEDs under RT cw operation. We therefore fabricated 310–350-nm-band deep UV-LEDs with quaternary InAlGaN active regions. We achieved submilliwatt output power under RT pulsed operation for 308–314-nm LEDs. We also demonstrated a high output power of 7.4 mW from a 352-nm quaternary InAlGaN-based LED fabricated on a GaN substrate under RT cw operation. The maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the 352-nm InAlGaN-based LED was higher than that obtained for an AlGaN-based LED with the same geometry. From these results, the advantages of the use of quaternary InAlGaN in 350-nm-band UV emitters were revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Flat and high‐quality semipolar AlN layers are crucial to realizing polarization‐reduced deep‐UV optical devices. We investigate the effects of Ga supply during the growth of semipolar AlN on m‐plane sapphire with the aim to produce better surface morphology. Incorporation of Ga into AlN is negligibly small at high‐temperature growth. The surface roughness significantly decreased with increasing the TMGa flow at a constant V/III ratio. [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]

To obtain a high-quality AlN template on a Si substrate for high-quantum efficiency AlGaN-based deep-UV LED applications, we fabricated a high-density micro-patterned Si(111) substrate. An about 8-µm-thick AlN template was grown on the Si(111) substrate in a metal-organic chemical vapor deposition reactor by using NH 3 pulsed-flow multilayer AlN growth and epitaxial lateral overgrowth methods. The template had a small X-ray full width at half-maximum with rocking curves of 620 and 1141″ for the symmetric and asymmetric (002 and 102) planes. A threading dislocation density at the best region as low as 10 7 cm −2 was also obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The luminescence efficiency of AlxGa1−xN quantum dots (QDs) and quantum wells (QWs), buried in AlN cladding layers and emitting in the ultraviolet range between 234 and 310 nm, has been investigated. The growth and optical properties have been done using similar aluminum composition (varying from 0.4 to 0.75) for both QDs and QWs. In order to compare as much as possible the optical properties, the QWs were fabricated with a growth time tuned such that the QW width is similar to the average height of the QDs. The photoluminescence (PL) showed emission ranging from 4 to 5.4 eV, putting into evidence differences in terms of full width at half maximum, PL intensity, and asymmetry of the line shape between QDs and QWs. The results show shorter wavelengths and a slightly narrower PL linewidth for QWs. To determine the light emission dependence with the electric field direction in the crystal, the evolutions of the emission diagrams for all samples were recorded along two orthogonal directions, namely, the "in-plane" (growth) and the "on-side" directions, from which the light emission was collected. For the whole QDs and QWs samples' series, the shapes of the emission diagram indicate emission in both in-plane and on-side directions, as evidenced by intra-valence band mixings caused by strain effects combined with the anisotropic Coulomb interactions that are particularly contributing to the polarization at wavelengths below 260 nm. Furthermore, the degree of polarization, determined for each sample, showed good agreement with results from the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY Deep-ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are in demand for a wide variety of potential applications, such as sterilization, water and air purification, medical uses, and so on. We have demonstrated 222-351 nm AlGaN and quaternary InAlGaN-based DUV-LEDs by developing a low threading dislocation density (TDD) AlN crystal. We achieved an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of about 4% and an output power greater than 30 mW in DUV-LEDs for use in sterilization applications by developing new crystal growth techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AlGaN-based ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are expected to have various applications, including sensing and printing, and light with ultraviolet-C (UVC) wavelengths has a virus inactivation effect. The metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) method has been used to fabricate LED devices with film control and impurity doping. However, to achieve high luminous efficiency, highly crystalline aluminum nitride (AlN) must be grown in the underlying layer. Although high temperatures are required to grow high-quality AlN for strong migration at the surface, there is a trade-off in the high temperature promoting parasitic reactions. These parasitic reactions are more dominant at a high V/III ratio with more raw material in the case of using the conventional MOVPE. Here, we used jet stream gas flow MOVPE to investigate the effect of V/III ratio dependencies in optimizing AlN growth and without affecting parasitic reaction conditions. As a result, trends of typical AlN crystal growth at V/III-ratio dependencies were obtained. AlN is more stable at a higher V/III ratio of 1000, exhibiting a double atomic step surface, and the crystal orientation is further improved at 1700 °C compared to that at a lower V/III ratio. [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]

Terahertz quantum cascade lasers (THz-QCLs) are compact THz laser source with narrow emission linewidth and high output power. Currently, a maximum operation temperature ( Tmax) of 199.5 K is reported by using a state-of-the-art longitudinal optical (LO) phonon depopulation scheme AlGaAs/GaAs structure. We propose an effective method to obtain higher operating temperature for AlGaAs/GaAs THz-QCL by increasing LO-phonon scattering energy by utilizing high Al composition AlGaAs barrier. We have successfully fabricated an LO phonon depopulation scheme AlGaAs/GaAs THz-QCL with double metal waveguide, and obtained 3.7 THz lasing. We obtained the Tmax of 150 K. We observed an increase of Tmax by about 7 K by increasing the Al composition of AlGaAs barrier from 15% to 30%. The characteristic temperature ( T0) was also improved from 44.7 K to 69.9 K by changing the Al composition of AlGaAs barriers. The increase of Al composition in AlGaAs-based THz-QCL was shown to be promising way for obtaining higher operating temperature of THz-QCL. (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrated AlGaN multi-quantum well (MQW) deep-ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with wavelengths in the range of 227.5 to 273 nm fabricated on high-quality AlN buffers on sapphire substrates grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). We realized crack-free, thick AlN buffers on sapphire with a low threading dislocation density (TDD) and an atomically flat surface by using the ammonia (NH3) pulse-flow multilayer (ML) growth technique. We obtained single-peaked operation of an AlGaN-MQW LED with a wavelength of 227.5 nm, which is the shortest wavelength of AlGaN-based LED on sapphire. The maximum output power and the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the 261- and 227.5-nm LEDs were 1.65 mW and 0.23% in room-temperature (RT) continuous-wave (CW) operation, and 0.15 mW and 0.2% in RT pulsed operation, respectively. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 93(3): 24–33, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecj.10197 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-efficiency ultraviolet (UV) light sources are very attractive for application to the medical field, white lighting, high-density memories, and so on. We have demonstrated that 300- to 370-nm UV emission is considerably enhanced by the introduction of several percent of In into AlGaN due to an In-segregation effect. We fabricated 310-nm-band UV LEDs with quaternary InAlGaN emitting layers on a sapphire substrate and obtained submilliwatt output power. We also fabricated 350-nm-band InAlGaN-based quantum-well LEDs on GaN substrates in order to eliminate the effects of threading dislocations. The maximum UV output power obtained was as high as 7.4 mW under room-temperature CW operation. The maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) was 1.1% with an injection current of 50 mA, which is the highest EQE ever obtained for 350-nm-band UV LEDs with top-emission geometry. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 157(3): 43–51, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.20287 Copyright © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The polarized photoluminescence emitted on the edge of a series of aluminum‐rich (Al,Ga)N‐AlN quantum wells (QWs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy on AlN templates deposited by metal organic chemical vapor deposition on c‐plane sapphire is measured. The contrast and the principal axis of the emission diagrams for 2 nm‐thick (Al,Ga)N QWs grown for aluminum compositions between 40% and 90% are studied. The light is emitted on the edge of the QWs at wavelengths going from 280 nm down to 209 nm. The emission diagram, a change from oblate to prolate with respect to the in‐plane orientation, for an aluminum composition is found to occur around 72%, that is, at an emission wavelength of about 235 nm. The orientations and shapes of the edge‐emission diagrams indicate that the fluctuations of the composition of the (Al,Ga)N confining layer are deep enough for producing intravalence band mixings. This property, that acts in concert with the built‐in strain and quantum‐confined Stark effect, contributes to the anisotropy of the light emission when the aluminum composition reaches 60–70%, that is, for an emission wavelength of 260–235 nm. [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 LEDs emitting < 230 nm UV light were fabricated on sapphire substrates. We employed a quantum well (QW) with an extremely thin barrier to enhance the quantum confinement of holes, wherein the calculation showed that the topmost valence subband became X ± i Y -like and increased the transverse-electric polarized emission. Additionally, we modified the Al composition of the spacer layer situated between the QW and an electron-blocking layer, which significantly improved the current-injection efficiency. The combination and optimization of these structures produced an LED emission of 228-nm UV light with an output power of 1.4 mW at 150 mA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors demonstrated AlGaN multiquantum-well (MQW) deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with wavelengths in the range of 231–261 nm, fabricated on low threading dislocation density AlN buffers formed through an ammonia (NH3) pulse-flow multilayer growth technique. The authors obtained a single-peaked operation of the AlGaN-MQW LED with a wavelength of 231 nm, which is the shortest wavelength of AlGaN-based LED on sapphire. The maximum output power and external quantum efficiency of the 261 and 231 nm LEDs were 1.65 mW and 0.23% under room-temperature (RT) continuous-wave (cw) operation, and approximately 5 μW and 0.001% under RT pulsed operation, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant enhancement in the output power of a GaAs-based terahertz quantum cascade laser (THz QCL) was achieved by implementing a relatively high impurity doping concentration. The QC structure was precisely designed using the nonequilibrium green function method by considering the band bending effect caused by a higher doping concentration. This enabled us to avoid the subband misalignment induced by the strong band bending effect, to provide efficient carrier transport even at high doping concentrations, and to improve the output power. The maximum output power of a GaAs/Al0.16Ga0.84As 3.5 THz-band QCL at 10 K was enhanced from 390 to 600 mW by increasing the doping concentration at the depopulation layers from 6 × 1016 to 1.2 × 1017 cm−3. The average power of 21 mW was achieved by implementing the appropriate pulse drive conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An in situ technique to reduce the threading dislocation density (TDD) of an Al[sub x]Ga[sub 1-x]N buffer within submicron-thick growth is demonstrated using metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy. We achieved a marked reduction in the TDD of the AlGaN buffer on a SiC substrate by inserting superlattices (SLs) consisting of highly Si-doped AlGaN and undoped AlGaN layers. The TDD of AlGaN decreased from 2 x 10[sup 10] to 7 x 10[sup 7] cm[sup -2] by inserting SLs with total growth thickness of 0.8 µm. The Si incorporation in the highly Si-doped AlGaN layers of the SLs was estimated to be approximately 1.2 x 10[sup 20] cm[sup -3] (0.24%). This is strictly an in situ technique that does not require complicated fabrication processes, and the surface is kept flat throughout the entire growth. This method is especially useful on SiC wafers to prevent cracks in a thin growth layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrated room-temperature (RT) intense ultraviolet (UV) emission with wavelength in the range of 300-340 nm from In[sub x1]Al[sub y1]Ga[sub l-x1-yl]N/In[sub x2]Al[sub y2]Ga[sub 1-x2-y2]N multiple-quantum wells (MQWs) fabricated on SiC by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. We found that the UV emission is considerably enhanced upon introducing approximately 5% of In into A1GaN. Maximally efficient emission was obtained at 318 nm from the fabricated In[sub 0.05]Al[sub 0.34]Ga[sub 0.61]N/In[sub 0.02]Al[sub 0.60]Ga[sub 0.38]N three-layer MQW when the QW thickness was approximately 1.4 nm. The intensity of 320 nm band emission from the InA1GaN-based MQWs was as strong as that of 410 nm band emission from InGaN-based QWs at RT. We observed emission fluctuations of submicron size in cathode luminescence images of In[sub x1]Al[sub y1]Ga[sub l -x1-y1]N/In[sub x2]Al[sub y2]Ga[sub l-x2-y2]N single QW which might be due to In segregation effect. The temperature dependence of photoluminescence emission for InA1GaN-based QWs was greatly improved in comparison with that of GaN- or A1GaN-based QWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrated room-temperature (RT) intense ultraviolet (UV) emission in the wavelength range of 315–370 nm from quaternary In[sub x]Al[sub y]Ga[sub 1-x-y]N alloys grown by metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy. We found that the UV emission is considerably enhanced by the In-segregation effect upon introducing 2%–5% of In into AlGaN. The In incorporation in quaternary In[sub x]Al[sub y]Ga[sub 1-x-y]N is markedly enhanced with the increase of Al content when using a relatively high growth temperature (830–850 °C), resulting in efficient RT UV emission. Maximally efficient emission was obtained at around 330–360 nm from the fabricated quaternary In[sub x]Al[sub y]Ga[sub 1-x-y]N (x=2.0%–4.8%,y=12%–34%). The intensity of the 330 nm emission from quaternary In[sub 0.034]Al[sub 0.12]Ga[sub 0.85]N was as strong as that of the 430 nm emission from In[sub 0.22]Ga[sub 0.78]N at RT. We clearly observed In segregation of submicron size from cathode luminescence images of quaternary InAlGaN films. © 2002 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrated efficient ultraviolet (UV) photoluminescence (PL) with the wavelength ranging from 230 to 280 nm from Al[sub x]Ga[sub 1-x]N(AlN)/Al[sub y]Ga[sub 1-y]N multiquantum wells (MQWs) grown on SiC by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. We systematically investigated the PL intensity of the AlGaN-based MQWs with wide-band-gap AlGaN barriers as functions of QW thickness and Al content of barriers. Single-peak, efficient PL emission was obtained at 282-234 nm at 77 K from Al[sub x]Ga[sub 1-x]N(AlN)/Al[sub y]Ga[sub 1-y]N 5-layer MQWs with approximately 1.5-nm-thick active layers by changing the Al content of the AlxGa[sub 1-x]N barriers from 53% to 100%. The efficiency of the deep-UV emission from AlGaN-based QWs was as high as that of blue emission from InGaN-based QWs at 77 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the experimental determination of the photoluminescence mechanism in a set of InGaN quantum wells. Photoluminescence as a function of the quantum well width; Influence of a piezoelectric field induced by strain; Causes of the abnormal photoluminescence shifts and temperature dependencies.

Examines the stimulated emission from optically pumped gallium nitride quantum dots in a heterostructure. Application of chemical vapor deposition in the fabrication of heterostructures; Importance of the simulated emission in understanding lasing mechanism; Effect of insufficient laser light absorption in barrier layers on threshold value.

A novel surface emitting laser diode consisting of a three-dimensional (3D) photonic band-gap crystal cavity is proposed. Spontaneous emission is controlled so as to radiate in the lasing direction with a narrow radiation angle by introducing a plane phase shift region into the cavity. The radiation pattern of the localized phase shift mode in the photonic band gap is analyzed with a plane-wave method by using a two-dimensional (2D) model. We show that the radiation angle of spontaneous emission in the photonic crystal cavity is as narrow as that of the stimulated emission of conventional surface emitting laser. Therefore, the photonic band-gap crystal cavity laser operates as a light source without threshold and spatial-emission-noise, and therefore is very attractive for use as the light source in spatially integrated optical circuits. © 1996 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimates the carrier capture time for separate confinement heterostructure single quantum-well lasers by spontaneous emission spectra. Measurement of spontaneous emission from the optical confinement layers; Dominance of hole capture time for the emission increase; Attainment of additional transport time for multiquantum well lasers.

We utilized the finite-difference time-domain method (FDTD) to investigate the reflectance of an air void photonic crystal (PhC) on the p-electrode of an AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diode (LED). Firstly, a transparent p-AlGaN layer with cylindrical air voids on a Ni(1nm)/Al(140nm) metal electrode was optimized to maximize the reflectance at normal incidence. It was shown that by having the optimum AlGaN PhC on the metal electrode, the reflectance as a function of the angle of incidence was advantageously redistributed to increase LEE. The calculated angle-dependent reflectances were converted to average reflectance considering the power distribution of dipole sources in the TE and TM modes. The average reflectances of a reference structure and the PhC structure for the TM mode at wavelengths around 283 nm were 77.1 and 85.2%, respectively. Thus, an incremental increase of 8% in average reflectance for the TM mode was obtained by adopting the optimized PhC. Secondly, we investigated a PhC with air voids in two different layers, a p-GaN layer and a p-AlGaN layer on the Ni/Al. The calculated average reflectances at 283 nm were 38% and 42% for the TE and TM modes, respectively, when the thickness of the p-GaN layer was 70 nm. The average reflectances for the TE and TM modes with a uniform 70nm thick p-GaN layer without a PhC were 4.2 and 3.6%, respectively. This clearly shows that the optimized PhC can reduce light absorption in both the p-GaN layer and the metal electrode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-polar m-plane GaN terahertz quantum cascade laser (THz-QCL) structures have been studied. One is traditional three-well resonant-phonon (RP) design scheme. The other is two-well phonon scattering injection (PSI) design scheme. The peak gains of 41.8 and 44.2 cm−1 have been obtained at 8.2 and 7.7 THz respectively at 300 K according to the self-consistent non-equilibrium Green's function calculation. Different from the usual GaAs two-well design, the upper and lower lasing levels are both ground states in the GaN quantum wells for the PSI scheme, mitigating the severe broadening effect for the excited states in GaN. To guide the fabrication of such devices, the doping effect on the peak gain has been analyzed. The two designs have demonstrated distinct doping density dependence and it is mainly attributed to the very different doping dependent broadening behaviors. The results reveal the possibility of GaN based THz-QCL lasing at room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For terahertz quantum cascade lasers employing the nonalignment injection scheme via direct-phonon resonance, this study presents the crucial effect of parasitic absorption in the narrow module architecture based on only two quantum wells. The optical gain can be restricted to small (or negative) values even at the low temperature. To address this issue, a suppression strategy by increasing the injection energy is used to isolate the relevant levels. The feasibility of this strategy is experimentally demonstrated by observing lasing at 194 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The correlation between the recombination dynamics of excitons and the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of AlGaN-based UV-A multiple quantum wells (MQWs) was studied via photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved PL (TRPL) spectroscopy. The probability ratio of the capture of excitons by nonradiative recombination centers (NRCs) and the radiative recombination of excitons was evaluated individually via two different experimental analyses. The IQE was evaluated via temperature- and excitation power density-dependent PL measurements and its dependence on excitation density was analyzed using a rate equation model based on the radiative and nonradiative recombination of excitons. Moreover, the radiative and nonradiative recombination lifetimes were evaluated via temperature-dependent TRPL measurements; furthermore, they were analyzed as functions of temperature and excitation energy density. The probability ratios obtained from the two individual analyses were in agreement. This quantitative agreement indicated that the analysis based on the radiative and nonradiative recombination processes of excitons, which included the process of filling NRCs, was valid for AlGaN-based UV-A MQWs. [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]

Deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes have attracted considerable attention for realizing virus inactivation applications. The UV-LEDs use the AlN underlying layer and the plane sapphire substrate. However, the low growth temperature in AlN underlying layer is grown by limited growth temperature in conventional MOVPE, and high temperature is preferable for AlN growth. Furthermore, the AlN underlying layer has many dislocations owing to the active layer in the device region when the flat sapphire substrate was used with a dislocation value of > 109 cm−2. We showed the high-temperature crystal growth of AlN with a temperature of 1700 °C by high temperature and gas flow velocity MOVPE. The achieved dislocation density was ~ 4 × 108 cm−2. Additionally, this data means the low dislocation densities in the AlN layer with a growth time of only 15 min and a dislocation density of < 1 × 109 cm−2 are obtained. The AlN growth temperature exceeding 1550 °C decreases the growth rate. These results indicate desorption from the surface of the substrate in a hydrogen atmosphere. Furthermore, the characteristic dislocation behavior of AlN in high-temperature growth at 1700 °C was elucidated from TEM images. [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 recent designs of terahertz quantum cascade lasers usually employ the short periodic length and also the tall barriers for high-temperature operation. In this work, the effect of high-energy lying non-relevant subbands is studied based on nonequilibrium Green's function formalisms model, demonstrating those subbands are probable to play a minor role on the population inversion, but play a major role on the optical gain at high temperatures. The phenomenon can be ascribed to the appearance of leakages crossing neighboring periods via sequential resonant tunneling, and those leakages are inherently created by the specific features of the two-well configuration in this design that the phonon well should be wide enough for performing the phonon scattering to depopulate the lower-laser subband. The narrower periodic length design can strengthen this inter-period leakage. A parasitic absorption between the first high-lying nonrelevant subbands from two laser wells can closely overlap the gain shape and thus significantly reduce the peak gain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent renewed operating temperatures in terahertz quantum cascade lasers emphasize on narrowing the periodic length in a 2-well resonant-phonon design for a clean quantum level structure, in which the depopulation energy is significantly higher than one longitudinal phonon. In this study, various depopulation energies (small and large) are engineered in a 2-well design; the effect of the high-lying nonrelevant levels on the currents are systematically studied by using the non-equilibrium Green's function method. The engineering of the depopulation energy is unable to avoid the formation of leakage channels, which are activated within at least three neighboring periods via sequential close tunneling. However, a large depopulation energy relaxes the thermal backfilling process; as a result, the net leakages at high temperatures can be significantly suppressed. In addition, pre-alignment remains a critical issue in the design when using a large depopulation energy, which requires improved engineering for the barriers to obtain better laser dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate photoluminescence (PL) from self-assembling InGaN quantum dots (QDs), which are artificially fabricated on AlGaN surfaces via metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. InGaN QDs are successfully fabricated by the growth mode transition to three-dimensional nanoscale island formation by using “antisurfactant” silicon on AlGaN surface. The diameter and height of the fabricated InGaN QDs are estimated to be ∼10 nm and ∼5 nm, respectively, by an atomic-force microscope (AFM). Indium mole fraction of In[sub x]Ga[sub 1-x]N QDs is controlled from x=∼0.22 to ∼0.52 by varying the growth temperature of QDs. Intense photoluminescence is observed even at room temperature from InGaN QDs embedded with the GaN capping layers. In addition, from the temperature dependence of the PL-peak energy, we convincingly show that the PL emission actually comes from the InGaN QDs. © 1998 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A GaAs/AlGaAs‐based terahertz quantum cascade laser with a peak power of 1.31 W and average power of 52 mW is demonstrated. To realize a high output power, an effective way is to increase the electron density at the active region by using a high doping level. This work aims to optimize a design enabling to use a heavy doping level, by realigning the resonant tunneling which can be seriously degraded due to a band bending from this heavy local doping. With variable quantum well and barrier height, the design owns an improved parameter tuning freedoms, and a saturation of peak gain can be achieved at a relatively high doping concentration of 1.0 × 1017 cm−3, which is twice higher than the recently reported device. Nonequilibrium Green's function method including full carriers scattering effect is used to carry out the design optimization, mainly including the realignment of resonant tunneling and suppression of leakages via high‐energy confined levels. In the experiment, a 14 μm thick active layer for this design is grown and also large mesa size is developed. To ensure a quasi‐continuous wave (quasi‐CW) operation, the heat dissipation is also managed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have a wide range of applications such as medical diagnostics, gas sensing, and water sterilization. Metal–organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) method is used for the growth of all-in-one structures, including doped layer and thin multilayers, using metal–organic and gas source raw materials for semiconductor devices. For AlN growth with high crystalline quality, high temperature is necessary to promote the surface migration of Al atoms and Al-free radicals. However, increase in temperature generates parasitic gas-phase prereactions such as adduct formation. In this work, AlN growth at 1500 °C by a stable vapor phase reaction has been achieved by jet stream gas flow metal–organic vapor phase epitaxy. The AlN growth rate increases with gas flow velocity and saturates at ~ 10 m/s at room temperature. Moreover, it is constant at an ammonia flow rate at a V/III ratio from 50 to 220. These results demonstrate the reduction in adduct formation, which is a typical issue with the vapor phase reaction between triethylaluminum and ammonia. The developed method provides the in-plane uniformity of AlN thickness within 5%, a low concentration of unintentionally doped impurities, smooth surface, and decrease in dislocation density because of the suppression of parasitic reactions. [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]

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 terahertz quantum cascade laser (THz-QCL) is a promising compact THz laser source with high output power and narrow emission line width, and could be put to use in a variety of applications. However, the operating temperature of lower frequency (< 2 THz) QCLs is particularly low, and is limited by the kBT line. This paper demonstrates a 1.9 THz GaAs/Al0.175Ga0.825As QCL operating at temperatures much higher than the kBT line. A selective injection scheme (using a four-level design) with high-Al composition barrier was used to build the low-frequency QCL with high operating temperature. We succeeded in surpassing the kBT line limit for a 1.9 THz QCL that operates up to 160 K (∼1.8 ħw/kB). The selective injection 1.9 THz QCL shows one-frequency lasing operation over the entire injection bias voltage range. (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key challenge for terahertz quantum cascade lasers (THz-QCLs) is to make it operating at room-temperature. The suppression of thermally activated leakages via high lying quantum levels is emphasized recently. In this study, we employ the advanced self-consistent method of non-equilibrium Green's function, aiming to reveal those kinds of leakages in the commonly used THz-QCL designs based on 2-, 3- and 4-quantum well. At the high temperature of 300 K, if all the confined high lying quantum levels and also the continuums are included within three neighboring periods, leakages indeed possess high fraction of the total current (21%, 30%, 50% for 2-, 3- and 4-quantum well designs, respectively). Ministep concept is introduced to weaken those leakage channels by isolating the desired levels from high lying ones, thus the leakages are well suppressed, with corresponding fractions less than 5% for all three designs. [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]

Mg-doped p-type semiconducting aluminium-gallium-nitride hole source layer (p-AlGaN HSL) materials are quite promising as a source of hole 'p' carriers for the ultraviolet-B (UVB) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs). However, the p-AlGaN HSL has a central issue of low hole injection due to poor activation of Mg atoms, and the presence of unwanted impurity contamination and the existence of a localized coherent state. Therefore, first the impact of the Mg level on the crystallinity, Al composition and relaxation conditions in the p-AlGaN HSL were studied. An increasing trend in the lattice-relaxation ratios with increasing Mg concentrations in the p-AlGaN HSL were observed. Ultimately, a 40%–60% relaxed and 1.4 μm thick p-AlGaN HSL structure with total threading dislocation densities (total-TDDs) of approximately ∼8–9 × 108 cm−2 was achieved, which almost matches our previous design of a 4 μm thick and 50% relaxed n-AlGaN electron source layer (ESL) with total-TDDs of approximately ∼7–8 × 108 cm−2. Subsequently, structurally a symmetric p–n junction for UVB emitters was accomplished. Finally, the influence of excimer laser annealing (ELA) on the activation of Mg concentration and on suppression of unwanted impurities as well as on the annihilation of the localized energy state in the p-AlGaN HSL were thoroughly investigated. ELA treatment suggested a reduced Ga–N bonding ratio and increased Ga–O, as well as Ga–Ga bonding ratios in the p-AlGaN HSL. After ELA treatment the localized coherent state was suppressed and, ultimately, the photoluminescence emission efficiency as well as conductivity were drastically improved in the p-AlGaN HSL. By using lightly polarized p-AlGaN HSL assisted by ELA treatment, quite low resistivity in p-type AlGaN HSL at room temperature (hole concentration is ∼2.6 × 1016 cm−3, the hole mobility is ∼9.6 cm2 V1 s−1 and the resistivity is ∼24.39 Ω. cm) were reported. ELA treatment has great potential for localized activation of p-AlGaN HSL as well as n- and p-electrodes on n-AlGaN and p-AlGaN contact layers during the flip-chip (FC) process in low operating UVB emitters, including UVB lasers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid state UV emitters have many advantages over conventional UV sources. The (Al,In,Ga)N material system is best suited to produce LEDs and laser diodes from 400 nm down to 210 nm—due to its large and tuneable direct band gap, n- and p-doping capability up to the largest bandgap material AlN and a growth and fabrication technology compatible with the current visible InGaN-based LED production. However AlGaN based UV-emitters still suffer from numerous challenges compared to their visible counterparts that become most obvious by consideration of their light output power, operation voltage and long term stability. Most of these challenges are related to the large bandgap of the materials. However, the development since the first realization of UV electroluminescence in the 1970s shows that an improvement in understanding and technology allows the performance of UV emitters to be pushed far beyond the current state. One example is the very recent realization of edge emitting laser diodes emitting in the UVC at 271.8 nm and in the UVB spectral range at 298 nm. This roadmap summarizes the current state of the art for the most important aspects of UV emitters, their challenges and provides an outlook for future developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internal quantum efficiency (IQE) and stimulated emission properties of AlGaN-based UV-C multiple quantum wells grown on c-plane sapphire substrates were assessed using photoluminescence spectroscopy. The IQEs were estimated to be 53% at room temperature and 16% at 750 K. Furthermore, optically pumped stimulated emission was clearly observed at room temperature. The threshold excitation power densities were estimated to be 13 kW/cm2 at 10 K and 69 kW/cm2 at room temperature. The temperature dependence of the threshold excitation power density suggested that the mechanism of optical gain formation changed from excitonic transition to degenerated electron–hole plasma between 200 and 250 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have established a profitable fabrication technique for three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals for optical wavelengths. In our method, two-dimensional photonic plates, which serve as unit parts for 3D structures, are prepared by the semiconductor nanofabrication technique. Then, these plates are assembled into 3D structures by micromanipulation. Accurate lamination of the plates is assured by linking fiducial holes of neighboring plates with matching microspheres. With this technique, we have succeeded in fabricating 3D photonic crystals with one to four layers of woodpile structures. From scanning electron microscope observation of the crystals, the periodic error was determined to be within 50 nm. The optical properties of the crystals indicate existence of the photonic band gap at the expected wavelength of 3-4 µm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strain plays a crucial role in the performance of ultraviolet (UV) optoelectronic devices. The strain states of AlGaN layers grown on different AlN templates are investigated. Two types of AlN templates are prepared: one is grown solely by metal‐organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and the other is fabricated with the combination of direct current (DC) sputtering, high‐temperature annealing, and MOCVD growth. The qualities of 4 μm‐thick MOCVD AlN and 1.2 μm‐thick sputter‐based AlN are almost equivalent in terms of dislocation density and surface morphology. However, the strain relaxation ratio of the AlGaN layer is higher for the 1.2 μm sputter‐based AlN than the 4 μm MOCVD AlN, indicating that the strain state depends on the total thickness of the epilayers on the sapphire substrate. In addition, it is found that the curvature of the sample at room temperature is governed mainly by the thickness of the AlGaN layer. As a result, sputter‐based AlN templates allow for the enhanced strain relaxation of the AlGaN layer with a small sample bowing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]