We report our study on the enhanced light extraction efficiency (LEE) of the 280nm AlInN nanowire ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) using different surface passivation approaches and photonic crystal structures. With a ~ 30nm Si3N4 as surface passivation, the AlInN LED could achieve relatively high LEE of ~ 41.5%, while the unpassivated LED has an average LEE of ~ 23.5%. Moreover, the periodically arranged nanowire LED arrays in hexagonal structure exhibit high LEE of 61.4% which is almost two times higher compared to that of the randomly arranged nanowire LEDs. Additionally, the AlInN nanowire ultraviolet LEDs show highly transverse-magnetic polarized emission.
Although AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been studied extensively, their quantum efficiency and optical output power still remain extremely low compared to the InGaN-based visible color LEDs. Electron leakage has been identified as one of the most possible reasons for the low internal quantum efficiency (IQE) in AlGaN based UV LEDs. The integration of a p-doped AlGaN electron blocking layer (EBL) or/and increasing the conduction band barrier heights with prompt utilization of higher Al composition quantum barriers (QBs) in the LED could mitigate the electron leakage problem to an extent, but not completely. In this context, we introduce a promising approach to alleviate the electron overflow without using EBL by utilizing graded concave QBs instead of conventional QBs in AlGaN UV LEDs. Overall, the carrier transportation, confinement capability and radiative recombination are significantly improved. As a result, the IQE, and output power of the proposed concave QB LED were enhanced by ~25.4% and ~25.6% compared to the conventional LED for emission at ~254 nm, under 60 mA injection current.
We report on the achievement of a new type of ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) using AlInN nanowire heterostructures. The molecular beam epitaxial grown AlInN nanowires have relatively high internal quantum efficiency of > 52% at 295nm. The peak emission wavelength is in the range of 280 - 355nm. Moreover, we show that the light extraction efficiency of AlInN nanowire LEDs could reach ~ 63% for hexagonal photonic crystal nanowire structures which is significantly higher compared to the random nanowire arrays. This study provides significant insights into the design and fabrication of new type of high performance AlInN nanowire ultraviolet light-emitters.
Though AlGaN ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been explored widely, their performance is still limited in the UV B and C regions due to several challenges. Electron leakage is one of the prominent reasons behind the poor performance of AlGaN deep UV LEDs. This problem can be mitigated by integrating the electron-blocking layer (EBL) between the active region and p-region to an extent, not entirely due to the own disadvantages of the EBL. In this regard, we report the achievement of high-performance EBL free AlGaN LEDs using a strip-in-a-barrier structure operating in the UV B and C regions, particularly at 254 nm and 292 nm wavelengths, respectively. Here, we have engineered each quantum barrier by integrating a 1 nm optimized intrinsic AlGaN strip layer in the middle of the QB. The resulting structure could significantly reduce the electron overflow and enhance the output power by ~1.87 times and ~1.48 times for 254 nm and 292 nm LEDs, respectively, compared to the conventional structure. Moreover, internal quantum efficiency droop is reduced notably in the proposed structure at 254 nm and 292 nm wavelengths.
Phosphor-free InGaN/AlGaN core-shell nanowire light-emitting diodes (LEDs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy have been developed and their application in visible light communication (VLC) has been investigated. The electroluminescence spectra of these nanowire LEDs show a very broad spectral linewidth and fully covers the entire visible spectrum. High-brightness phosphor-free LEDs with highly stable white-light emission and high color-rendering index (CRI) of >98 were obtained by controlling the Indium composition in the device active region. Moreover, the phosphor-free nanowire white-LEDs exhibit relatively high 3-dB frequency bandwidth of ~ 1.4 MHz which is higher compared to that of phosphor-based white LEDs at the same measurement condition. Such high-performance phosphorfree nanowire LEDs are being further improved and are ideally suited for future smart lighting applications and communications.
Shrinking the linewidth of resonances induced by multiple coupled resonators is comprehensively analyzed using the coupled-mode theory (CMT) in time. Two types of coupled resonators under investigation are coupled resonator optical waveguides (CROWs) and side-coupled resonators with waveguide (SCREW). We examine the main parameters influencing on the spectral response such as the number of resonators (n) and the phase shift (φ) between two adjacent resonators. For the CROWs geometry consisting of n coupled resonators, we observe the quality (Q) factor of the right- and left-most resonant lineshapes increases n times larger than that of a single resonator. For the SCREW geometry, relying on the phase shift, sharp, and asymmetric resonant lineshape of the high Q factor a narrow linewidth of the spectral response could be achieved. We employ the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method to design and simulate two proposed resonators for practical applications. The proposed coupled resonators in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) slotted two-dimensional (2-D) photonic crystals (PhCs) filled and covered with a low refractive index organic material. Slotted PhC waveguides and cavities are designed to enhance the electromagnetic intensity and to confine the light into small cross-sectional area with low refractive index so that efficient optical devices could be achieved. A good agreement between the theoretical CMT analysis and the FDTD simulation is shown as an evidence for our accurate investigation. All-optical switches based on the CROWs in the SOI slotted 2-D PhC waveguide that are filled and covered by a nonlinear organic cladding to overcome the limitations of its well-known intrinsic properties are also presented. From the calculations, we introduce a dependency of the normalized linewidth of the right-most resonance and its switching power of the all-optical switches on number of resonator, n. This result might provide a guideline for all-optical signal processing on a silicon PhC chip design.
The monolithic integration of red, green and blue (RGB) GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) directly on a single chip is critically important for smart lighting and full color display applications. In this work, RGB InGaN/GaN dot-in-a-wire LED arrays were laterally arranged on a Si wafer using a three-step SiOx-mask selective area growth (SAG) technique, and on a sapphire wafer using a Ti-mask SAG technique. Tunable emission across the entire visible spectral range (~ 450 nm to 700 nm) can be readily achieved on a single Si wafer by varying the sizes and/or compositions of the dots. By separately biasing lateral-arranged multi-color LED subpixels, the correlated color temperature (CCT) values of such a ~ 0.016 mm2 pixel can be varied from ~ 1900 K to 6800 K. The RGB pixel size can be further reduced by using the Ti-mask SAG technique on sapphire wafer. Full-color InGaN/GaN nanowire arrays with sizes of 2.8 × 2.8 μm2 have been monolithically fabricated into the same pixel.
We report on the achievement of relatively high power phosphor-free white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) using a new self-organized InGaN/AlGaN dot-in-a-wire core-shell nanowire heterostructure. Multiple AlGaN shell layers are spontaneously formed during the growth of the quantum dot active region. Due to the drastically reduced nonradiative surface recombination, such core-shell nanowire structures exhibit significantly increased carrier lifetime (from ~ 0.3ns to ~ 4.5ns) and massively enhanced photoluminescence intensity. Strong white-light emission was recorded for the unpackaged core-shell nanowire LEDs with an output power of >5 mW, measured under an injection current ~ 60A/cm2, with a color rendering index of ~ 95.
We have developed phosphor-free InGaN/GaN/AlGaN dot-in-a-wire core-shell white light emitting diodes, which can break the carrier injection efficiency bottleneck of conventional nanowire white light emitting diodes, leading to a dramatic enhancement of the output power. Additionally, such phosphor-free nanowire white light emitting diodes can deliver a very high color rendering index (CRI) of ~92-98.
One of the grand challenges for future solid state lighting is the development of high efficiency, phosphor-free white light emitting diodes (LEDs). In this context, we have investigated the molecular beam epitaxial growth and characterization of nanowire LEDs on Si, wherein intrinsic white-light emission is achieved by incorporating selforganized InGaN quantum dots in defect-free GaN nanowires on a single chip. We have further demonstrated that, with the incorporation of p-type modulation doping and AlGaN electron blocking layer, InGaN/GaN dot-in-a-wire white LEDs can exhibit nearly zero efficiency droop and significantly enhanced internal quantum efficiency (up to ~57%) at room-temperature.
We report on the molecular beam epitaxial growth and characterization of In(Ga)N nanowires on Si(111)
substrates. We also describe the growth and optical properties of InGaN/GaN dot-in-a-wire heterostructures on Si(111)
substrates with emission in the green, yellow, and red wavelength range. The design, fabrication, and characterization of
In(Ga)N nanowire solar cells and LEDs are discussed. InN p-i-n axial nanowire homojunction solar cells exhibit a
promising short-circuit current density of ~ 14.4 mA/cm2 and an energy conversion efficiency of ~ 0.68% under 1-sun,
AM1.5G illumination. Strong green, yellow, and amber emission has also been achieved from InGaN/GaN dot-in-a-wire
LEDs at room temperature.
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