Electrical Current Leakage and Open-Core Threading Dislocations in AlGaN-Based Deep Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes.

Moseley, Michael William; Allerman, Andrew A.; Crawford, Mary H.; Wierer, Jonathan; Smith, Michael L.; Biedermann, Laura

doi:10.1063/1.4891830

Title: Electrical Current Leakage and Open-Core Threading Dislocations in AlGaN-Based Deep Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes.

Journal Article · Mon Aug 04 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4891830· OSTI ID:1183000

Moseley, Michael William ^[1]; Allerman, Andrew A. ^[1]; Crawford, Mary H. ^[1]; Wierer, Jonathan ^[1]; Smith, Michael L. ^[1]; Biedermann, Laura ^[1]

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Electrical current transport through leakage paths in AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet (DUV) lightemitting diodes (LEDs) and their effect on LED performance are investigated. Open-core threading dislocations, or nanopipes, are found to conduct current through nominally insulating Al0.7Ga0.3N layers and limit the performance of DUV-LEDs. A defect-sensitive phosphoric acid etch reveals these opencore threading dislocations in the form of large, micron-scale hexagonal etch pits visible with optical microscopy, while closed-core screw-, edge-, and mixed-type threading dislocations are represented by smaller and more numerous nanometer-scale pits visible by atomic-force microscopy. The electrical and optical performances of DUV-LEDs fabricated on similar Si-doped Al0.7Ga0.3N templates are found to have a strong correlation to the density of these nanopipes, despite their small fraction (<0.1% in this study) of the total density of threading dislocations.

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Research Organization:: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC04-94AL85000

OSTI ID:: 1183000

Report Number(s):: SAND-2014-15213J; 534136

Journal Information:: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, Issue 5; ISSN 0021-8979

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 37 works

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