Large-scale and high-quality III-nitride membranes through microcavity-assisted crack propagation by engineering tensile-stressed Ni layers

Epitaxially grown III-nitride alloys are tightly bonded materials with mixed covalent-ionic bonds.This tight bonding presents tremendous challenges in developing III-nitride membranes,even though semiconductor membranes can provide numerous advantages by removing thick,inflexible,and costly substrates.Herein,cavities with various sizes were introduced by overgrowing target layers,such as undoped GaN and green LEDs,on nanoporous templates prepared by electrochemical etching of n-type GaN.The large primary interfacial toughness was effectively reduced according to the design of the cavity density,and the overgrown target layers were then conveniently exfoliated by engineering tensile-stressed Ni layers.The resulting III-nitride membranes maintained high crystal quality even after exfoliation due to the use of GaN-based nanoporous templates with the same lattice constant.The microcavity-assisted crack propagation process developed for the current III-nitride membranes forms a universal process for developing various kinds of large-scale and high-quality semiconductor membranes.

Flexible nanoimprint lithography enables high-throughput manufacturing of bioinspired microstructures on warped substrates for efficient III-nitride optoelectronic devices

III-nitride materials are of great importance in the development of modern optoelectronics,but they have been limited over years by low light utilization rate and high dislocation densities in heteroepitaxial films grown on foreign substrate with limited refractive index contrast and large lattice mismatches.Here,we demonstrate a paradigm of high-throughput manufacturing bioinspired microstructures on warped substrates by flexible nanoimprint lithography for promoting the light extraction capability.We design a flexible nanoimprinting mold of copolymer and a two-step etching process that enable high-efficiency fabrication of nanoimprinted compound-eye-like Al2O3 microstructure(NCAM)and nanoimprinted compound-eye-like SiO_(2)microstructure(NCSM)template,achieving a 6.4-fold increase in throughput and 25%savings in economic costs over stepper projection lithography.Compared to NCAM template,we find that the NCSM template can not only improve the light extraction capability,but also modulate the morphology of AlN nucleation layer and reduce the formation of misoriented GaN grains on the inclined sidewall of microstructures,which suppresses the dislocations generated during coalescence,resulting in 40%reduction in dislocation density.This study provides a low-cost,high-quality,and high-throughput solution for manufacturing microstructures on warped surfaces of III-nitride optoelectronic devices.

Inter-facet composition modulation of III-nitride nanowires over pyramid textured Si substrates by stationary molecular beam epitaxy

InGaN nanowires (NWs) are grown on pyramid textured Si substrates by stationary plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE). The incidence angles of the highly directional source beams vary for different pyramid facets, inducing a distinct inter-facet modulation of the In content of the InGaN NWs, which is verified by spatial element distribution analysis. The resulting multi-wavelength emission is confirmed by photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL). Pure GaN phase formation dominates on certain facets, which is attributed to extreme local growth conditions, such as low active N flux. On the same facets, InGaN NWs exhibit a morphology change close to the pyramid ridge, indicating inter-facet atom migration. This cross-talk effect due to inter-facet atom migration is verified by a decrease of the inter-facet In content modulation amplitude with shrinking pyramid size. A detailed analysis of the In content variation across individual pyramid facets and element distribution line profiles reveals that the cross-talk effect originates mainly from the inter-facet atom migration over the convex pyramid ridge facet boundaries rather than the concave base line facet boundaries. This is understood by first-principles calculations showing that the pyramid baseline facet boundary acts as an energy barrier for atom migration, which is much higher than that of the ridge facet boundary. The influence of the growth temperature on the inter-facet In content modulation is also presented. This work gives deep insight into the composition modulation for the realization of multi-color light-emitting devices based on the monolithic growth of InGaN NWs on pyramid textured Si substrates.

Strain effect on the electronic properties of III-nitride nanosheets:Ab-initio study

In this study the structural and electronic properties of III-nitride monolayers XN(X=B, Al, Ga and In) under different percentages of homogeneous and shear strain are investigated using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave within the density functional theory. Geometry optimizations indicate that GaN and InN monolayers get buckled under compressive strain.Our calculations show that the free-strains of these four monolayers have an indirect band gap. By applying compressive biaxial strain, a transition from indirect to direct band gap occurs for GaN and InN, while the character of band gap for BN and AlN is not changed. Under tensile strain, only BN monolayer behaves as direct band gap semiconductor. In addition, when the shear strain is applied, only InN undergoes an indirect to direct band gap transition. Furthermore, the variations of band gap versus strain for III-nitride monolayers have been calculated. When a homogeneous uniform strain, in the range of [.10%, +10%], is applied to the monolayers, the band gap can be tuned for from 3.92 eV to 4.58 eV for BN, from 1.67 eV to 3.46 eV for AlN, from0.24 eV to 2.79 eV for GaN and from 0.60 eV to 0.90 eV for InN.

Deep-ultraviolet photonics for the disinfection of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants(Delta and Omicron)in the cryogenic environment

Deep-ultraviolet(DUV)disinfection technology provides an expeditious and efficient way to suppress the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19).However,the influences of viral variants(Delta and Omicron)and low temperatures on the DUV virucidal efficacy are still unknown.Here,we developed a reliable and uniform planar light source comprised of 275-nm light-emitting diodes(LEDs)to investigate the effects of these two unknown factors and delineated the principle behind different disinfection performances.We found the lethal effect of DUV at the same radiation dose was reduced by the cryogenic environment,and a negative-U large-relaxation model was used to explain the difference in view of the photoelectronic nature.The chances were higher in the cryogenic environment for the capture of excited electrons within active genetic molecules back to the initial photo-ionised positions.Additionally,the variant of Omicron required a significantly higher DUV dose to achieve the same virucidal efficacy,and this was thanks to the genetic and proteinic characteristics of the Omicron.The findings in this study are important for human society using DUV disinfection in cold conditions(e.g.,the food cold chain logistics and the open air in winter),and the relevant DUV disinfection suggestion against COVID-19 is provided.

Design of 1.33 μm and 1.55 μm Wavelengths Quantum Cascade Photodetector

In this paper, a quantum cascade photodetector based on intersubband transitions in quantum wells with ability of detecting 1.33 μm and 1.55 μm wavelengths in two individual current paths is introduced. Multi quantum wells structures based on III-Nitride materials due to their large band gaps are used. In order to calculate the photodetector parameters, wave functions and energy levels are obtained by solving 1-D Schrodinger–Poisson equation self consistently at 80 ?K. Responsivity values are about 22 mA/W and 18.75 mA/W for detecting of 1.33 μm and 1.55 μm wavelengths, respectively. Detectivity values are calculated as 1.17 × 107 (Jones) and 2.41 × 107 (Jones) at wavelengths of 1.33 μm and 1.55 μm wavelengths, respectively.

First-principles study on improvement of two-dimensional hole gas concentration and confinement in AlN/GaN superlattices

Using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory,we have systematically studied the influence of in-plane lattice constant and thickness of slabs on the concentration and distribution of two-dimensional hole gas(2 DHG)in AlN/GaN superlattices.We show that the increase of in-plane lattice constant would increase the concentration of 2 DHG at interfaces and decrease the valence band offset,which may lead to a leak of current.Increasing the thickness of AlN and/or decreasing the thickness of GaN would remarkably strengthen the internal field in GaN layer,resulting in better confinement of 2 DHG at AlN/GaN interfaces.Therefore,a moderate larger in-plane lattice constant and thicker AlN layer could improve the concentration and confinement of 2 DHG at AlN/GaN interfaces.Our study could serve as a guide to control the properties of 2 DHG at Ⅲ-nitride interfaces and help to optimize the performance of p-type nitride-based devices.

Nonpolar a-plane light-emitting diode with an in-situ SiN_x interlayer on r-plane sapphire grown by metal-organic chemical vapour deposition

We report on the growth and fabrication of nonpolar a-plane light emitting diodes with an in-situ SiNx interlayer grown between the undoped a-plane GaN buffer and Si-doped GaN layer. X-ray diffraction shows that the crystalline quality of the GaN buffer layer is greatly improved with the introduction of the SiNx interlayer. The electrical properties are also improved. For example, electron mobility and sheet resistance are reduced from high resistance to 31.6 cm2/（V· s） and 460 Ω/respectively. Owing to the significant effect of the SiNx interlayer, a-plane LEDs are realized. Electrolurninescence of a nonpolar a-plane light-emitting diode with a wavelength of 488nm is demonstrated. The emission peak remains constant when the injection current increases to over 20 mA.

GaN-on-Si blue/white LEDs:epitaxy,chip,and package

The dream of epitaxially integrating III-nitride semiconductors on large diameter silicon is being fulfilled through the joint R＆D efforts of academia and industry, which is driven by the great potential of Ga N-onsilicon technology in improving the efficiency yet at a much reduced manufacturing cost for solid state lighting and power electronics. It is very challenging to grow high quality Ga N on Si substrates because of the huge mismatch in the coefficient of thermal expansion（CTE） and the large mismatch in lattice constant between Ga N and silicon, often causing a micro-crack network and a high density of threading dislocations（TDs） in the Ga N film.Al-composition graded Al Ga N/Al N buffer layers have been utilized to not only build up a compressive strain during the high temperature growth for compensating the tensile stress generated during the cool down, but also filter out the TDs to achieve crack-free high-quality n-Ga N film on Si substrates, with an X-ray rocking curve linewidth below 300 arcsec for both（0002） and（10N12） diffractions. Upon the Ga N-on-Si templates, prior to the deposition of p-Al Ga N and p-Ga N layers, high quality In Ga N/Ga N multiple quantum wells（MQWs） are overgrown with well-engineered V-defects intentionally incorporated to shield the TDs as non-radiative recombination centers and to enhance the hole injection into the MQWs through the via-like structures. The as-grown Ga N-on-Si LED wafers are processed into vertical structure thin film LED chips with a reflective p-electrode and the N-face surface roughened after the removal of the epitaxial Si（111） substrates, to enhance the light extraction efficiency. We have commercialized Ga N-on-Si LEDs with an average efficacy of 150–160 lm/W for 1mm^2 LED chips at an injection current of 350 m A, which have passed the 10000-h LM80 reliability test. The as-produced Ga N-on-Si LEDs featured with a single-side uniform emission and a nearly Lambertian distribution can adopt the wafer-level phosphor coating procedure, and are suitable for directional lighting, camera flash, streetlighting, automotive headlamps, and otherlighting applications.

Coherent-interface-induced strain in large lattice-mismatched materials:A new approach for modeling Raman shift

Strain engineering as one of the most powerful techniques for tuning optical and electronic properties of III-nitrides requires reliable methods for strain investigation.In this work,we reveal,that the linear model based on the experimental data limited to within a small range of biaxial strains(<0.2%),which is widely used for the non-destructive Raman study of strain with nanometer-scale spatial resolution is not valid for the binary wurtzite-structure group-III nitrides GaN and AlN.Importantly,we found that the discrepancy between the experimental values of strain and those calculated via Raman spectroscopy increases as the strain in both GaN and AlN increases.Herein,a new model has been developed to describe the strain-induced Raman frequency shift in GaN and AlN for a wide range of biaxial strains(up to 2.5%).Finally,we proposed a new approach to correlate the Raman frequency shift and strain,which is based on the lattice coherency in the epitaxial layers of superlattice structures and can be used for a wide range of materials.