Interband cascade light-emitting diodes grown on silicon substrates using GaSb buffer layer

Ince, Fatih F.; Frost, Mega; Shima, Darryl; Rotter, Thomas J.; Addamane, Sadhvikas; McCartney, Martha R.; Smith, David J.; Canedy, Chadwick L.; Tomasulo, Stephanie; Kim, Chul Soo; Bewley, William W.; Vurgaftman, Igor; Meyer, Jerry R.; Balakrishnan, Ganesh

doi:10.1063/5.0209740

Interband cascade light-emitting diodes grown on silicon substrates using GaSb buffer layer

Journal Article · Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2024 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0209740· OSTI ID:2498472

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Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)

Interband cascade light-emitting diodes (ICLEDs) offer attractive advantages for infrared applications, which would greatly expand if high-quality growth on silicon substrates could be achieved. Here, this work describes the formation of threading dislocations in ICLEDs grown monolithically on GaSb-on-Silicon wafers. The epitaxial growth is done in two stages: the GaSb-on-Silicon buffer is grown first, followed by the ICLED growth. The buffer growth involves the nucleation of a 10-nm-thick AlSb buffer layer on the silicon surface, followed by the GaSb growth. The AlSb nucleation layer promotes the formation of 90° and 60° interfacial misfit dislocations, resulting in a highly planar morphology for subsequent GaSb growth that is almost 100% relaxed. The resulting GaSb buffer for growth of the ICLED has a threading dislocation density of ~10⁷/cm² after ~3 μm of growth. The fabricated LEDs showed variations in device performance, with some devices demonstrating comparable light–current–voltage curves to those for devices grown on GaSb substrates, while other devices showed somewhat reduced relative performance. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy observations of the inferior diodes indicated that the multiplication of threading dislocations in the active region had most likely caused the increased leakage current and lower output power. Enhanced defect filter layers on the GaSb/Si substrates should provide more consistent diode performance and a viable future growth approach for antimonide-based ICLEDs and other infrared devices.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

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

Sponsoring Organization:: US Army Research Office (ARO); US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003525

OSTI ID:: 2498472

Report Number(s):: SAND--2025-00027J

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 125; ISSN 0003-6951

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

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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