The temperature used for growth of GaN by molecular beam epitaxy is ultimately limited by the greatly reduced growth rate related to thermal decomposition. This limiting temperature apparently varies from group to group. Factors influencing thermal decomposition are growth species (atomic versus metastable molecular nitrogen), surface polarity (N- versus Ga-polar), the presence of atomic hydrogen, and varying Ga-overpressure. Surface polarity and growth species are the predominant influence determining the onset of thermal decomposition. There are indications that the use of a significant Ga-overpressure can suppress decomposition allowing for an increase in obtainable growth temperatures for a given polarity. Electrical properties are shown to be strongly influenced by Ga-overpressure and thermal decomposition.
Surface polarity related differences in the optical activity of Be in GaN epilayers grown by rf-plasma molecular beam epitaxy are investigated. N-polar GaN doped with Be exhibits a significantly higher intensity of donor-acceptor pair (DAP) photoluminescence (PL) than similarly doped Ga-polar GaN, indicating the Be is incorporating at microscopically different sites, or possibly is forming different compensating complexes. Highly Be-doped Ga-polar GaN forms isolated polarity-inverted regions which then incorporate Be via the N-polar mechanism resulting in the DAP PL. High temperature annealing of the Ga-polar layers both under nitrogen/hydrogen mixtures and under pure nitrogen atmospheres activates the DAP PL.
SAW devices operating at the fundamental frequency and the 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th harmonics have been designed, fabricated, and measured. Devices were fabricated on GaN thin films on sapphire substrates, which were grown via metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). Operating frequencies of 230, 962, 1338, 1720, and 2100 MHz were achieved with devices that had a fundamental wavelength, lambda0 = 20 μm. Gigahertz operation is realized with relatively large interdigital transducers that do not require complicated submicrometer fabrication techniques. SAW devices fabricated on the GaN/sapphire bilayer have an anisotropic propagation when the wavelength is longer than the GaN film thickness. It is shown that for GaN thin films, where kh(GaN) > 10 (k = 2pi/lambda and h(GaN) = GaN film thickness), effects of the substrate on the SAW propagation are eliminated. Bulk mode suppression at harmonic operation is also demonstrated.
We demonstrate a method to improve the light extraction from an LED using photonic crystal (PhC)-like structures in metal contacts. A patterned metal contact with an array of Silicon Oxide (SiO x ) pillars (440 nm in size) on an InGaN/GaNbased MQW LED has shown to increase output illumination uniformity through experimental characterization. Structural methods of improving light extraction using transparent contacts or dielectric photonic crystals typically require a tradeoff between improving light extraction and optimalelectrical characteristics.The method presented here provides an alternate solution to provide a 15% directional improvement (surface normal) in the radiation profile and ∼ 30% increase in the respective intensity profile without affecting the electrical characteristics of the device. Electron beam patterning of hydrogen silesquioxane (HSQ), a novel electron beam resist is used in patterning these metal contacts. After patterning, thermal curing of the patterned resist is done to form SiO x pillars. These SiO x pillars aid as a mask for transferring the pattern to the p-metal contact. Electrical and optical characterization results of LEDs fabricated with and without patterned contacts are presented. We present the radiation and intensity profiles of the planar and patterned devices extracted using Matlab-based image analysis technique from 200 μm (diameter) circular unpackaged LEDs.Index Terms-Electron beam lithography (EBL), light emitting diode (LED), patterning, photonic crystal (PC), hydrogen silesquioxane (HSQ).
Growth of GaN by molecular beam epitaxy is limited by reduced growth rate related to thermal decomposition. Factors influencing thermal decomposition are growth species (atomic versus metastable molecular nitrogen), surface polarity (N-vs. Ga-polar), and varying Ga-overpressure. Surface polarity and growth species are the predominant influence determining the onset of thermal decomposition. A significant Gaoverpressure can suppress decomposition, allowing an increase in growth temperatures. Electrical properties are strongly influenced by Ga-overpressure and thermal decomposition.
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