Influence of an InGaN superlattice pre-layer on the performance of semi-polar (11–22) green LEDs grown on silicon

Zhao, X. and Huang, K. and Bruckbauer, J. and Shen, S. and Zhu, C. and Fletcher, P. and Feng, P. and Cai, Y. and Bai, J. and Trager-Cowan, C. and Martin, R. W. and Wang, T. (2020) Influence of an InGaN superlattice pre-layer on the performance of semi-polar (11–22) green LEDs grown on silicon. Scientific Reports, 10 (1). 12650. ISSN 2045-2322 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69609-4)

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Abstract

It is well-known that it is crucial to insert either a single InGaN underlayer or an InGaN superlattice (SLS) structure (both with low InN content) as a pre-layer prior to the growth of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) served as an active region for a light-emitting diode (LED). So far, this growth scheme has achieved a great success in the growth of III-nitride LEDs on c-plane substrates, but has not yet been applied in the growth of any other orientated III-nitride LEDs. In this paper, we have applied this growth scheme in the growth of semi-polar (11–22) green LEDs, and have investigated the impact of the SLS pre-layer on the optical performance of semi-polar (11–22) green LEDs grown on patterned (113) silicon substrates. Our results demonstrate that the semi-polar LEDs with the SLS pre-layer exhibit an improvement in both internal quantum efficiency and light output, which is similar to their c-plane counterparts. However, the performance improvement is not so significant as in the c-plane case. This is because the SLS pre-layer also introduces extra misfit dislocations for the semi-polar, but not the c-plane case, which act as non-radiative recombination centres.

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