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Nearly single-crystalline GaN light-emitting diodes on amorphous glass substrates

Nature Photonics volume 5, pages 763–769 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

Single-crystalline GaN-based light-emitting diodes (s-LEDs) on crystalline sapphire wafers can provide point-like light sources with high conversion efficiency and long working lifetimes. Recently, s-LEDs on silicon wafers have been developed in efforts to overcome the size limitations of the sapphire substrate. However, to create larger, cheaper and efficient flat light sources, the fabrication of high-performance s-LEDs on amorphous glass substrates would be required, which remains a scientific challenge. Here, we report the fabrication of nearly single-crystalline GaN on amorphous glass substrates, in the form of pyramid arrays. This is achieved by high-temperature, predominant GaN growth on a site-confined nucleation layer with preferential polycrystalline morphology through local hetero-epitaxy. InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum wells formed on the GaN pyramid arrays exhibit a high internal quantum efficiency of 52%. LED arrays fabricated using these GaN pyramid arrays demonstrate reliable and stable area-type electroluminescent emission with a luminance of 600 cd m−2.

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Figure 1: Schematic for fabricating GaN pyramid arrays.
Figure 2: Effect of the presence of a titanium pre-orienting layer on crystallographic orientation of the LT-GaN nucleation layer.
Figure 3: Contour of GaN pyramid arrays formed on the template with hole-patterned SiO2/LT-GaN/titanium/glass.
Figure 4: Crystal quality of GaN pyramid arrays and electroluminescence devices fabricated on top of GaN pyramid arrays.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank K.Y. Park (Sysnex Inc.) and J.M. Zuo (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) for fruitful discussions, H.Y. Ahn, E.H. Cho, K.H. Kim, H.K. Kim, J.W. Yoo, J.H. Lee, Y.K. Cha, Y.T. Ryu, J.S. Cho, K.W. Park, S.H. Song, M.J. Shin and S.M. Kim (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology) and H.B. Yoo (Seoul National University) for technical support. J.M.K. thanks Y.J. Park and C.S. Sone (Samsung LED) for their valuable comments on the manuscript. M.K. acknowledges support from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF no. 2010-0017-609).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Frontier Research Laboratory, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Samsung Electronics, Yongin, Kyunggi-do 446-712, South Korea

    Jun Hee Choi, Andrei Zoulkarneev, Sun Il Kim, Chan Wook Baik, Sung Soo Park, Hwansoo Suh, Un Jeong Kim, Hyung Bin Son, Jae Soong Lee & Jong Min Kim

  2. Analytical Engineering Group, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Samsung Electronics, Yongin, Kyunggi-do 446-712, South Korea

    Min Ho Yang

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-744, South Korea

    Jun Hee Choi & Miyoung Kim

  4. Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Samsung Electronics, Yongin, Kyunggi-do 446-712, South Korea

    Kinam Kim

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  1. Jun Hee Choi
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Contributions

J.H.C. designed and carried out experiments, analysed the data and wrote the manuscript. A.Z. developed the device design and process flow. S.I.K. and C.W.B. optimized the pre-orienting and nucleation layers. M.H.Y. conduced TEM analysis. S.S.P. guided the experimental investigations. H.S. prepared submicrometre hole-patterned templates. U.J.K., H.B.S. and J.S.L. performed the optical measurements, including cathodoluminescence, photoluminescence and electroluminescence. M.K. and J.M.K. guided the theoretical investigations and edited the manuscript. K.K. designed the project. All authors commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Miyoung Kim or Jong Min Kim.

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Choi, J., Zoulkarneev, A., Kim, S. et al. Nearly single-crystalline GaN light-emitting diodes on amorphous glass substrates. Nature Photon 5, 763–769 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2011.253

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