Near-infrared electroluminescence at room temperature from neodymium-doped gallium nitride thin films

Journal Article · Mon Sep 06 04:00:00 EDT 2004 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1781745· OSTI ID:20632770

Kim, Joo Han; Holloway, Paul H ^[1]

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1. Portland Technology Development, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, Oregon 97124 (United States)

Strong near-infrared (NIR) electroluminescence (EL) at room temperature from neodymium (Nd)-doped gallium nitride (GaN) thin films is reported. The Nd-doped GaN films were grown by radio-frequency planar magnetron cosputtering of separate GaN and metallic Nd targets in a pure nitrogen ambient. X-ray diffraction data did not identify the presence of any secondary phases and revealed that the Nd-doped GaN films had a highly textured wurtzite crystal structure with the c-axis normal to the surface of the film. The EL devices were fabricated with a thin-film multilayered structure of Al/Nd-doped GaN/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}-TiO{sub 2}/indium-tin oxide and tested at room temperate. Three distinct NIR EL emission peaks were observed from the devices at 905, 1082, and 1364 nm, arising from the radiative relaxation of the {sup 4}F{sub 3sol2} excited-state energy level to the {sup 4}I{sub 9sol2}, {sup 4}I{sub 11sol2}, and {sup 4}I{sub 13sol2} levels of the Nd{sup 3+} ion, respectively. The threshold voltage for all the three emission peaks was {approx}150 V. The external power efficiency of the fabricated EL devices was {approx}1x10{sup -5} measured at 40 V above the threshold voltage.

• OSTI ID: 20632770
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 85; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ALUMINIUM
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DEPOSITION
DOPED MATERIALS
ELECTROLUMINESCENCE
EXCITED STATES
GALLIUM NITRIDES
INDIUM OXIDES
MAGNETRONS
NEODYMIUM IONS
NITROGEN
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
TEXTURE
THIN FILMS
TIN OXIDES
TITANIUM OXIDES
X-RAY DIFFRACTION