Classical LED Structure

(Explanation of LED structure, Substrates, PN Junction, Quantum Well, Optical Properties, Radiative Efficiency)

Date : 15-Mar-2013 Current Version: V.0 Dated: 15-Mar-2013

Created by: Shashank Sayanwar ssa@dstlworld.com

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Contents

Contents
1. Substrates for III-Nitride Diodes 2. Nitride LEDs 3. PN Junction 4. InGaN-GaN Quantum Well 5. Optical Properties 6. Radiative Efficiency
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Scope Constraints Exclusions

Scope
This is training cum presentation about the classical structure of LEDs, its substrates, PN Junction, Quantum well, Optical properties, Radiative efficiency

Constraints
This training is does not contain advances of epitaxy, advances of quantum wells, substrates patterning, growth, suitability, etc.

Exclusions
NA

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Definitions
LEDs: LEDs are solid-state semiconductor devices that convert electrical energy directly into light. Substrates: Substrate is a solid (usually planar) substance onto which a layer of another substance is applied, and to which that second substance adheres. In solid-state electronics, this term refers to a thin slice of material such as silicon, silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide, sapphire, germanium, gallium arsenide (GaAs), an alloy of silicon and germanium, or indium phosphide (InP).

Conduction Band: The conduction band is the range of electron energies enough to free an electron from binding with its atom to move freely within the atomic lattice of the material as a 'delocalised electron'. Various materials may be classified by their band gap: this is defined as the difference between the valence and conduction bands.

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Definitions
Valence band: In solids, the valence band is the highest range of electron energies in which electrons are normally present at absolute zero temperature. The valence electrons are bound to individual atoms, as opposed to conduction electrons (found in conductors and semiconductors), which can move freely within the atomic lattice of the material. Bandgap: In solid state physics, a band gap, also called an energy gap or bandgap, is an energy range in a solid where no electron states can exist. In graphs of the electronic band structure of solids, the band gap generally refers to the energy difference (in electron volts) between the top of the valence band and the bottom of the conduction band in insulators and semiconductors. This is equivalent to the energy required to free an outer shell electron from its orbit about the nucleus to become a mobile charge carrier, able to move freely within the solid material.

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Raison detre
Learning Outcomes
1. Understanding of the working of LEDs 2. Understanding of the architecture of LEDs 3. Understanding of the substrates of LEDs 4. Understanding of the quantum wells 5. Conclusions and Prospects in LED

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About LEDs

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About LEDs
The most important part of a light emitting diode (LED) is the semi-conductor chip located in the center of the bulb as shown at the right. The chip has two regions separated by a junction. The p region is dominated by positive electric charges, and the n region is dominated by negative electric charges. The junction acts as a barrier to the flow of electrons between the p and the n regions. Only when sufficient voltage is applied to the semi-conductor chip, can the current flow, and the electrons cross the junction into the p region.

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About LEDs
When the electron falls down from conduction band and fills in a hole in valence band, there is an obvious loss of energy.

CB

VB

The question is; where does that energy go?

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About LEDs
In order to achieve a reasonable efficiency for photon emission, the semiconductor must have a direct band gap.

CB

VB

The question is; what is the mechanism behind photon emission in LEDs?
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About LEDs
For example; Silicon is known as an indirect band-gap material. What this means is that as an electron goes from the bottom of the conduction band to the top of the valence band; it must also undergo a significant change in momentum.
VB E

CB k

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About LEDs
As we all know, whenever something changes state, one must conserve not only energy, but also momentum. In the case of an electron going from conduction band to the valence band in silicon, both of these things can only be conserved: The transition also creates a quantized set of lattice vibrations called phonons, or heat

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Structure of an LED

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Substrates
Substrate is a solid (usually planar) substance onto which a layer of another substance is applied, and to which that second substance adheres. In solidstate electronics, this term refers to a thin slice of material such as silicon, silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide, sapphire, germanium, gallium arsenide (GaAs), an alloy of silicon and germanium, or indium phosphide (InP). These serve as the foundation upon which electronic devices such as transistors, diodes, and especially integrated circuits (ICs) are deposited.

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Substrates
The main factors determining the appropriate substrate materials are matched lattice parameters and thermal expansion coefficients as well as good crystallinity, chemical, physical and mechanical properties. Many materials were investigated as substrates, such as sapphire (-Al2O3), SiC, Si, GaAs.
Among them, sapphire and SiC are the main commercial substrates. Due to SiC substrate is very expensive, sapphire is the most important semiconductor LED lighting industry substrate.

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Substrates

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Substrates
Sapphire is a high melting point oxide crystal (2050), which can be used at the highest temperature of 1900. Sapphire has a high refractive index and a broad transmission band from 0.14 to 6.0 m, spanning the UV, visible, and IR bands. Sapphire also has a high hardness (next to diamond) and surface smoothness, very good tensile strength, thermal conductivity, electric insulation, wear resistance, and thermal shock resistance. The chemical properties of sapphire are very stable. Generally, sapphire is insoluble in water; insoluble in nitric acid (HNO3), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), hydrochloric acid (HCL), hydrofluoric acid (HF) and phosphoric acid (H3PO4) up to 300C; and insoluble in alkalis up to 800C.

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Substrates
The favorable combination of excellent optical and mechanical properties of sapphire, together with high chemical durability, makes it a desirable substrate material for LED applications

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Substrates for III Nitride Diodes

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The lattice mismatch between sapphire and GaN is higher than SiC, which is a disadvantage for heteroepitaxy. The main advantages of SiC are its very high thermal conductivity, which achieves better thermal dissipation as well as its good electrical conductivity with which a back side metallic contact is possible. Sapphire is thermally and electrically insulating.

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Substrates for III Nitride Diodes

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Substrates for III Nitride Diodes

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Substrates for III Nitride Diodes

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PN Junction in GaN
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Doping GaN with acceptors to obtain a high concentration of holes has been a difficult problem. The first p-n junction appeared only in the late 1980s, after the discovery that the Mg-doped GaN layer could be activated through electron beam exposure. Although p-GaN doping is no longer a major obstacle in optoelectronic device fabrication, it is no less true that GaN Mgdoped layers account for a critical technological issue because of their still high resistivity. The main reasons are the deep level of Mg acceptor and the structural quality degradation of p-type epilayers when a high Mg concentration is introduced. Be that as it may, Mg remains the best known p-type dopant for GaN-based semiconductors.

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PN Junction in GaN
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A p-n junction is composed of a n-type material (excess electrons) and a p-type material (excess holes). Ideally, all dopants are assumed to be fully ionized so that the free electron (holes) concentration is given by the donor (acceptor) concentration (n=ND and p=NA). If NA=ND, the junction is symmetric and the current is principally due to diffusion effect (ideal junction). The recombination process then occurs both in the ptype GaN and in the n-type GaN. An electric field resulting from the presence of + and charges appears in the p-n junction. Indeed, the neutrality condition is lost after the free carrier diffusion and the only charge in the depletion region is from ionized donors and acceptors. This depleted region, also called the space charge region (SCR), is characterized by its width W.

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PN Junction in GaN
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Under low current injection, the p-type region controls the current flow. If a standard GaN p-n junction is used, most of the recombinations will occur into the p-type region

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PN Junction in GaN
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We could thus consider growing the active layer which consists of InGaN/GaN quantum wells, into the p-type region. In order to prevent recombination mechanisms from taking place in the ptype GaN, an electron diffusion barrier known as the electron blocking layer (InAlN) is introduced. Considering the conduction band, the electron barrier is too high so that they cannot pass over it and stay localized on the n-side of the junction. On the other hand, the hole barrier in the valence band is lower because of the smaller bandshift and the Mg-doping. Holes can then pass over quite easily. Consequently, recombinations take place either in the n-type GaN or in the SCR.
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PN Junction in GaN
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GaN/InGaN Quantum Well

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In order to increase the recombination probability in

the active region, it is common practice to insert quantum wells, i.e. material layers of smaller bandgap. Its thickness has to be of the order of the characteristic wavelength associated with the electron. As carrier effective mass is very high in the case of III-N compounds, the typical quantum well thickness that allows quantum confinement is very small, in the nanometer scale.

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GaN/InGaN Quantum Well

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Heterostructures are epitaxied along a polar axis ((0001) GaN axis in the general case of growth on sapphire substrate. A heterojunction is the interface that occurs between two layers or regions of dissimilar crystalline semiconductors. These semiconducting materials have unequal band gaps as opposed to a homojunction. In this configuration, heterostructures present a strong internal electrical field that leads to a giant quantum confined Stark effect. Now, this phenomenon is critical for the internal efficiency of LEDs, because it strongly decreases the recombination rate in quantum wells by spatially separating electrons from holes. Consequently, quantum well thickness of high-brightness LEDs should be kept very thin in order to limit this separation.

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GaN/InGaN Quantum Well

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Heterostructure

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GaN/InGaN Quantum Well

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Optical Properties
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Quantum wells and Radiative Efficiency

Radiative efficiency is internal quantum efficiency: Not all electron-hole recombinations are radiative. IQE is the proportion of all electron-hole recombinations in the active region that are radiative, producing photons. Determination of Internal quantum efficiency of quantum wells (No. of electron-hole recombinations inside the quantum well) Internal quantum efficiency increases from 370 nm to 450 nm and then drops beyond 450 nm.

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Radiative Efficiency (IQE)

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One of the most spectacular particularities of InGaN

QW-based LEDs is inherent to their internal quantum efficiency (from 70-80%) The lattice mismatch of GaN with sapphire is around 33% These GaN based LEDs also exhibit a very high dislocation density. Still, there are many theories proposed which explains the high IQE of InGaN QW HB LEDs.

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Conclusion and Prospects

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InGaN/GaN QW-based blue LEDs grown on c-plane

sapphire substrate have reached an advanced degree of maturity and a high level of performance, i.e. external quantum efficiency higher than 50%. If blue LEDs have probably reached their limits in term of efficiency, the situation is different considering green and even shorter wavelength devices. This limit comes from the internal electric field that consists of a piezoelectric and a spontaneous component This phenomenon dramatically decreases radiative efficiency of thick wells.

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Conclusion and Prospects

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Let us recall that large wells are necessary to

counterbalance the poor crystalline quality of In-rich InGaN alloys. Thus, the up and coming solution is the growth on non-polar or quasi-polar faces. In this case, the internal electric field is cancelled and thicker wells are consequently allowed. Nevertheless, 30 to 35% In is required to reach the green spectral domain (520 to 530 nm). It constitutes a real challenge and extensive work is still needed to carry out green LED performances on the scales of blue LEDs.

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Conclusion and Prospects

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Nowadays, the majority of world research efforts are

spent on the pursuit of the green spectral domain. However, it is important to keep in mind that blue LEDs (460-470 nm) presently offer outstanding performances. This high level of achievement led to the fabrication of white LEDs which outperform fluorescent tubes in terms of luminous efficiency. With the main technological barriers being removed, it will be difficult to stop this technological revolution and GaN will become to the optoelectronics domain what Si presently represents for the electronics field.

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Conclusions & Action to be taken

CONCLUSIONS

ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN

THANKS
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