Tunnel-injection quantum dot deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with polarization-induced doping in III-nitride heterostructures
Abstract
Efficient semiconductor optical emitters in the deep-ultraviolet spectral window are encountering some of the most deep rooted problems of semiconductor physics. In III-Nitride heterostructures, obtaining short-wavelength photon emission requires the use of wide bandgap high Al composition AlGaN active regions. High conductivity electron (n-) and hole (p-) injection layers of even higher bandgaps are necessary for electrical carrier injection. This approach requires the activation of very deep dopants in very wide bandgap semiconductors, which is a difficult task. In this work, an approach is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to counter the challenges. The active region of the heterostructure light emitting diode uses ultrasmall epitaxially grown GaN quantum dots. Remarkably, the optical emission energy from GaN is pushed from 365 nm (3.4 eV, the bulk bandgap) to below 240 nm (>5.2 eV) because of extreme quantum confinement in the dots. This is possible because of the peculiar bandstructure and band alignments in the GaN/AlN system. This active region design crucially enables two further innovations for efficient carrier injection: Tunnel injection of carriers and polarization-induced p-type doping. The combination of these three advances results in major boosts in electroluminescence in deep-ultraviolet light emitting diodes and lays the groundwork for electrically pumped short-wavelength lasers.
- Authors:
-
- Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 (United States)
- Publication Date:
- OSTI Identifier:
- 22275810
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal Name:
- Applied Physics Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 104; Journal Issue: 2; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; ALUMINIUM NITRIDES; DOPED MATERIALS; ELECTROLUMINESCENCE; GALLIUM NITRIDES; LASERS; LIGHT EMITTING DIODES; POLARIZATION; QUANTUM DOTS; SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS; ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
Citation Formats
Verma, Jai, Islam, S. M., Protasenko, Vladimir, Kumar Kandaswamy, Prem, Xing, Huili, and Jena, Debdeep. Tunnel-injection quantum dot deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with polarization-induced doping in III-nitride heterostructures. United States: N. p., 2014.
Web. doi:10.1063/1.4862064.
Verma, Jai, Islam, S. M., Protasenko, Vladimir, Kumar Kandaswamy, Prem, Xing, Huili, & Jena, Debdeep. Tunnel-injection quantum dot deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with polarization-induced doping in III-nitride heterostructures. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4862064
Verma, Jai, Islam, S. M., Protasenko, Vladimir, Kumar Kandaswamy, Prem, Xing, Huili, and Jena, Debdeep. 2014.
"Tunnel-injection quantum dot deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with polarization-induced doping in III-nitride heterostructures". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4862064.
@article{osti_22275810,
title = {Tunnel-injection quantum dot deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with polarization-induced doping in III-nitride heterostructures},
author = {Verma, Jai and Islam, S. M. and Protasenko, Vladimir and Kumar Kandaswamy, Prem and Xing, Huili and Jena, Debdeep},
abstractNote = {Efficient semiconductor optical emitters in the deep-ultraviolet spectral window are encountering some of the most deep rooted problems of semiconductor physics. In III-Nitride heterostructures, obtaining short-wavelength photon emission requires the use of wide bandgap high Al composition AlGaN active regions. High conductivity electron (n-) and hole (p-) injection layers of even higher bandgaps are necessary for electrical carrier injection. This approach requires the activation of very deep dopants in very wide bandgap semiconductors, which is a difficult task. In this work, an approach is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to counter the challenges. The active region of the heterostructure light emitting diode uses ultrasmall epitaxially grown GaN quantum dots. Remarkably, the optical emission energy from GaN is pushed from 365 nm (3.4 eV, the bulk bandgap) to below 240 nm (>5.2 eV) because of extreme quantum confinement in the dots. This is possible because of the peculiar bandstructure and band alignments in the GaN/AlN system. This active region design crucially enables two further innovations for efficient carrier injection: Tunnel injection of carriers and polarization-induced p-type doping. The combination of these three advances results in major boosts in electroluminescence in deep-ultraviolet light emitting diodes and lays the groundwork for electrically pumped short-wavelength lasers.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4862064},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22275810},
journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
issn = {0003-6951},
number = 2,
volume = 104,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jan 13 00:00:00 EST 2014},
month = {Mon Jan 13 00:00:00 EST 2014}
}