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In this work, a self-powered GaN-based metal-semiconductor-metal photodetector (MSM PD) with high responsivity has been proposed and fabricated. The proposed MSM PD forms an asymmetric feature by using the polarization effect under one electrode, such that we adopt an AlGaN/GaN heterojunction to produce the electric field, and by doing so, an asymmetric energy band between the two electrodes can be obtained even when the device is unbiased. The asymmetric feature is proven by generating the asymmetric current-voltage characteristics both in the dark and the illumination conditions. Our results show that the asymmetric energy band enables the self-powered PD, and the peak responsivity wavelength is 240 nm with the responsivity of 0.005 A/W. Moreover, a high responsivity of 13.56 A/W at the applied bias of 3 V is also achieved. Thanks to the very strong electric field in the charge transport region, when compared to the symmetric MSM PD, the proposed MSM PD can reach an increased photocurrent of 100 times larger than that for the conventional PD, even if the illumination intensity for the light source becomes increased.

AlGaN solar-blind ultraviolet detectors have great potential in many fields, although their performance has not fully meet the requirements until now. Here, we proposed an approach to utilize the inherent polarization effect of AlGaN to improve the detector performance. AlGaN heterostructures were designed to enhance the polarization field in the absorption layer, and a high built-in field and a high electron mobility conduction channel were formed. As a result, a high-performance solar-blind ultraviolet detector with a peak responsivity of 1.42 A/W at 10 V was achieved, being 50 times higher than that of the nonpolarization-enhanced one. Moreover, an electron reservoir structure was proposed to further improve the performance. A higher peak responsivity of 3.1 A/W at 30 V was achieved because the electron reservoir structure could modulate the electron concentration in the conduction channel. The investigation presented here provided feasible approaches to improve the performance of the AlGaN detector by taking advantage of its inherent property.

In this report, AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (DUV LEDs) with different p-AlGaN/n-AlGaN/p-AlGaN (PNP-AlGaN) structured current spreading layers have been described and investigated. According to our results, the adopted PNP-AlGaN structure can induce an energy barrier in the hole injection layer that can modulate the lateral current distribution. We also find that the current spreading effect can be strongly affected by the thickness, the doping concentration, the PNP loop, and the AlN composition for the inserted n-AlGaN layer. Therefore, if the PNP-AlGaN structure is properly designed, the forward voltage, the external quantum efficiency, the optical power, and the wall-plug efficiency for the proposed DUV LEDs can be significantly improved as compared with the conventional DUV LED without the PNP-AlGaN structure.

In this work, we have investigated the origin of efficiency droop for AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (DUV LEDs). We find that the efficiency droop is likely to be caused by the electron leakage for DUV LEDs studied in this work. The electron leakage arises from the unbalanced electron and hole injection efficiencies. The correlation between the efficiency droop and the electron leakage can be numerically calculated by manipulating the conduction band barrier height of the p-AlGaN electron blocking layer (p-EBL) for the proposed DUV LEDs. For the purpose of demonstrating that the efficiency droop for DUV LEDs can be experimentally decreased by reducing the electron leakage, a p +-GaN/In 0.15 Ga 0.85 N/n +-GaN tunnel junction on DUV LED is grown by using metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) technology. The tunnel junction helps to enhance the hole injection, thus decreasing the electron leakage and the efficiency droop. Moreover, the parasitic emission in the p-type hole injection layer is no longer observed thanks to the decreased electron leakage level.

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