skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: BInGaN alloys nearly lattice-matched to GaN for high-power high-efficiency visible LEDs

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4997601· OSTI ID:1543840
ORCiD logo [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

InGaN-based visible light-emitting diodes (LEDs) find commercial applications for solid-state lighting and displays, but lattice mismatch limits the thickness of InGaN quantum wells that can be grown on GaN with high crystalline quality. Since narrower wells operate at a higher carrier density for a given current density, they increase the fraction of carriers lost to Auger recombination and lower the efficiency. The incorporation of boron, a smaller group-III element, into InGaN alloys is a promising method to eliminate the lattice mismatch and realize high-power, high-efficiency visible LEDs with thick active regions. In this work, we apply predictive calculations based on hybrid density functional theory to investigate the thermodynamic, structural, and electronic properties of BInGaN alloys. Our results show that BInGaN alloys with a B:In ratio of 2:3 are better lattice matched to GaN compared to InGaN and, for indium fractions less than 0.2, nearly lattice matched. Deviations from Vegard's law appear as bowing of the in-plane lattice constant with respect to composition. Our thermodynamics calculations demonstrate that the solubility of boron is higher in InGaN than in pure GaN. Varying the Ga mole fraction while keeping the B:In ratio constant enables the adjustment of the (direct) gap in the 1.75–3.39 eV range, which covers the entire visible spectrum. Holes are strongly localized in non-bonded N 2p states caused by local bond planarization near boron atoms. Furthermore, our results indicate that BInGaN alloys are promising for fabricating nitride heterostructures with thick active regions for high-power, high-efficiency LEDs.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC); Univ. of California, Oakland, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1543840
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1409863
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 111, Issue 21; ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 18 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (42)

Optical and structural properties of BGaN layers grown on different substrates journal October 2015
GaAs1−y−zPyBiz, an alternative reduced band gap alloy system lattice-matched to GaAs journal September 2014
Projector augmented-wave method journal December 1994
Hybrid functionals based on a screened Coulomb potential journal May 2003
Efficiency of ab-initio total energy calculations for metals and semiconductors using a plane-wave basis set journal July 1996
BGaN materials on GaN/sapphire substrate by MOVPE using N2 carrier gas journal January 2007
Van der Waals density functionals applied to solids journal May 2011
Influence of the exchange screening parameter on the performance of screened hybrid functionals journal December 2006
The efficiency challenge of nitride light-emitting diodes for lighting: The efficiency challenge of nitride LEDs for lighting journal March 2015
Application of dilute boron B(Al,In,Ga)N alloys for UV light sources conference February 2011
Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set journal October 1996
Metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy of BInGaN quaternary alloys and characterization of boron content journal February 2010
From ultrasoft pseudopotentials to the projector augmented-wave method journal January 1999
Theoretical studies on light emission characteristics of high-efficiency BInGaN/GaN quantum well structures with blue spectral range journal August 2016
Ab initio molecular-dynamics simulation of the liquid-metal–amorphous-semiconductor transition in germanium journal May 1994
Bandgap bowing in BGaN thin films journal August 2008
Band bowing and band alignment in InGaN alloys journal January 2010
Efficient generation of generalized Monkhorst-Pack grids through the use of informatics journal April 2016
Auger recombination in InGaN measured by photoluminescence journal October 2007
Optoelectronic properties of cubic BxInyGa1−x−yN alloys matched to GaN for designing quantum well Lasers: First-principles study within mBJ exchange potential journal August 2015
Growth and Characterization of Nanocolumnar-Structure Boron Indium Nitride Alloys Deposited on Sapphire Substrates by Solution Chemical Vapor Deposition journal October 2009
Effect of boron incorporation on growth behavior of BGaN/GaN by MOVPE journal November 2008
Rietveld refinement for indium nitride in the 105–295 K range journal June 2003
Growth of coherent BGaN films using BBr 3 gas as a boron source in plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy
  • Cramer, Richard C.; Bonef, Bastien; English, John
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 35, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4986185
journal July 2017
Theoretical study of electronic and optical properties of BN, GaN and BxGa1−xN in zinc blende and wurtzite structures journal October 2016
Band gap bowing and crossing of B x Ga 1− x N alloy investigated by hybrid functional method journal February 2016
Theoretical study of the effects of isovalent coalloying of Bi and N in GaAs journal February 2002
Ab initiomolecular dynamics for liquid metals journal January 1993
Carrier distribution in (0001)InGaN∕GaN multiple quantum well light-emitting diodes journal February 2008
First-principles calculations of indirect Auger recombination in nitride semiconductors journal July 2015
Consistent set of band parameters for the group-III nitrides AlN, GaN, and InN journal February 2008
Phase degradation in BxGa1−xN films grown at low temperature by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy journal April 2017
Blue-emitting InGaN–GaN double-heterostructure light-emitting diodes reaching maximum quantum efficiency above 200A∕cm2 journal December 2007
Internal quantum efficiency and carrier dynamics in semipolar (20<span style="text-decoration: overline">21</span>) InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes journal January 2017
Efficient stochastic generation of special quasirandom structures journal September 2013
Structure of nanocrystalline GaN from X-ray diffraction, Rietveld and atomic pair distribution function analyses journal January 2005
High-Power and High-Efficiency InGaN-Based Light Emitters journal January 2010
Reducing Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and field-free spin-orbit torque switching in synthetic antiferromagnets journal May 2021
High-resolution X-ray luminescence extension imaging journal February 2021
Electronic structure of AlFeN films exhibiting crystallographic orientation change from c- to a-axis with Fe concentrations and annealing effect journal February 2020
An ultrasensitive molybdenum-based double-heterojunction phototransistor text January 2021
Van der Waals density functionals applied to solids text January 2011

Cited By (3)

Ab-initio study of boron incorporation and compositional limits at GaN and AlN (0001) surfaces journal June 2018
Lattice-constant and band-gap tuning in wurtzite and zincblende BInGaN alloys journal August 2019
BAlGaN alloys nearly lattice-matched to AlN for efficient UV LEDs journal December 2019

Similar Records

Lattice-constant and band-gap tuning in wurtzite and zincblende BInGaN alloys
Journal Article · Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Journal of Applied Physics · OSTI ID:1543840
BAlGaN alloys nearly lattice-matched to AlN for efficient UV LEDs
Journal Article · Wed Dec 04 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Applied Physics Letters · OSTI ID:1543840
Efficiency Improvement of Nitride-Based Solid State Light Emitting Materials -- CRADA Final Report
Technical Report · Thu May 13 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · OSTI ID:1543840

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Physics