31.38 Gb/s GaN-based LED array visible light communication system enhanced with V-pit and sidewall quantum well structure

Although the 5G wireless network has made significant advances,it is not enough to accommodate the rapidly rising requirement for broader bandwidth in post-5G and 6G eras.As a result,emerging technologies in higher frequencies including visible light communication(VLC),are becoming a hot topic.In particular,LED-based VLC is foreseen as a key enabler for achieving data rates at the Tb/s level in indoor scenarios using multi-color LED arrays with wavelength division multiplexing(WDM)technology.This paper proposes an optimized multi-color LED array chip for high-speed VLC systems.Its long-wavelength GaN-based LED units are remarkably enhanced by V-pit structure in their efficiency,especially in the“yellow gap”region,and it achieves significant improvement in data rate compared with earlier research.This work investigates the V-pit structure and tries to provide insight by introducing a new equivalent circuit model,which provides an explanation of the simulation and experiment results.In the final test using a laboratory communication system,the data rates of eight channels from short to long wavelength are 3.91 Gb/s,3.77 Gb/s,3.67 Gb/s,4.40 Gb/s,3.78 Gb/s,3.18 Gb/s,4.31 Gb/s,and 4.35 Gb/s(31.38 Gb/s in total),with advanced digital signal processing(DSP)techniques including digital equalization technique and bit-power loading discrete multitone(DMT)modulation format.

Simulation Study on Optical Properties of GaN-based Blue LED

The optical properties of GaN-based blue light-emitting diodes(LEDs)are extremely important to study as these LEDs are utilized in a great many industries due to their excellent qualities,including high brightness,high energy efficiency,low energy consumption,and rapid reaction time.In this paper,Silvaco TCAD simulation software is used to do two-dimensional modeling and simulation of a GaN-based blue single quantum well vertical structure LED,with an emphasis on varied forward voltages,In components in InGaN,and quantum well thickness.The volt-ampere characteristic curve is compared and evaluated,as well as the energy band structure,carrier concentration,radiation recombination efficiency,electroluminescence spectrum,and internal current density distribution.The results show that when the forward voltage is 3.5V and the thickness of the quantum well is constant,the luminescence spectrum will show a red shift with the increase of the In content in the quantum well,and the luminescence spectrum will also show a red shift when the thickness of the quantum well is increased.However,when the quantum well thickness and In component are kept constant,the luminescence spectrum appears a red shift with increasing forward voltage.

Room-temperature continuous-wave operation of GaN-based blue-violet laser diodes with a lifetime longer than 1000h

GaN-based continuous-wave operated blue-violet laser diodes(LDs) with long lifetime are demonstrated, which are grown on a c-plane GaN substrate by metal organic chemical vapor deposition with a 10 × 600 μm^2 ridge waveguide structure.The electrical and optical characteristics of a blue-violet LD are investigated under direct-current injection at room temperature(25 °C). The stimulated emission wavelength and peak optical power of the LD are around 413 nm and over 600 mW, respectively.In addition, the threshold current density and voltage are as small as 1.46 kA/cm^2 and 4.1 V, respectively. Moreover, the lifetime is longer than 1000 hours under room-temperature continuous-wave operation.

Improved light extraction of GaN-based light-emitting diodes with surface-textured indium tin oxide electrodes by nickel nanoparticle mask dry-etching

GaN-based light-emitting diodes （LEDs） with surface-textured indium tin oxide （ITO） as a transparent current spreading layer were fabricated. The ITO surface was textured by inductively coupled plasma （ICP） etching technology using a monolayer of nickel （Ni） nanoparticles as the etching mask. The luminance intensity of ITO surface-textured GaN-based LEDs was enhanced by about 34% compared to that of conventional LED without textured ITO layer. In addition, the fabricated ITO surface-textured GaN-based LEDs would present a quite good performance in electrical characteristics. The results indicate that the scattering of photons emitted in the active layer was greatly enhanced via the textured ITO surface, and the ITO surface-textured technique could have a potential application in improving photoelectric characteristics for manufacturing GaN-based LEDs of higher brightness.

Field plate structural optimization for enhancing the power gain of GaN-based HEMTs

A novel source-connected field plate structure, featuring the same photolithography mask as the gate electrode, is proposed as an improvement over the conventional field plate （FP） techniques to enhance the frequency performance in GaN-based HEMTs. The influences of the field plate on frequency and breakdown performance are investigated simul- taneously by using a two-dimensional physics-based simulation. Compared with the conventional T-gate structures with a field plate length of 1.2 gm, this field plate structure can induce the small signal power gain at 10 GHz to increase by 5-9.5 dB, which depends on the distance between source FP and dramatically shortened gate FE This technique minimizes the parasitic capacitances, especially the gate-to-drain capacitance, showing a substantial potential for millimeter-wave, high power applications.

GaN-based heterostructures： electric-static equilibrium and boundary conditions

In the GaN-based heterostructures, this paper reports that the strong electric fields induced by polarization effects at the structure boundaries complicate the electric-static equilibrium and the boundary conditions. The basic requirements of electric-static equilibrium for the heterostructure systems are discussed first, and it is deduced that in the application of the coupled Schroedinger-Poisson model to the heterostructures of electric static equilibrium state, zero external electric field guarantees the overall electric neutrality, and there is no need to introduce the charge balance equation. Then the relation between the screening of the polar charges in GaN-based heterostructures and the possible boundary conditions of the Poisson equation is analysed, it is shown that the various boundary conditions are equivalent to each other, and the surface charge, which can be used in studying the screening of the polar charges, can be precisely solved even if only the conduction band energy is correctly known at the surface. Finally, through the calculations on an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure with typical structure parameters by the coupled Schroedinger-Poisson model under the various boundary conditions, the correctness of the above analyses are validated.

Kink effect in current–voltage characteristics of a GaN-based high electron mobility transistor with an AlGaN back barrier

The kink effect in current-voltage （IV） characteristic s seriously deteriorates the performance of a GaN-based HEMT. Based on a series of direct current （DC） IV measurements in a GaN-based HEMT with an AlGaN back barrier, a possible mechanism with electron-trapping and detrapping processes is proposed. Kink-related deep levels are activated by a high drain source voltage （Vds） and located in a GaN channel layer. Both electron trapping and detrapping processes are accomplished with the help of hot electrons from the channel by impact ionization. Moreover, the mechanism is verified by two other DC IV measurements and a model with an expression of the kink current.

Enhanced performance of GaN-based light-emitting diodes with InGaN/GaN superlattice barriers

GaN-based multiple quantum well light-emitting diodes （LEDs） with conventional and superlattice barriers have been investigated numerically. Simulation results demonstrate using InGaN/GaN superlattices as barriers can effectively enhance performances of the GaN-Based LEDs, mainly owing to the improvement of hole injection and transport among the MQW active region. Meanwhile, the improved electron capture decreases the electron leakage and alleviates the efficiency droop. The weak polarization field induced by the superlattice structure strengthens the intensity of the emission spectrum and leads to a blue-shift relative to the conventional one.

Low specific on-resistance GaN-based vertical heterostructure field effect transistors with nonuniform doping superjunctions

A novel Ga N-based vertical heterostructure field effect transistor（HFET） with nonuniform doping superjunctions（non-SJ HFET） is proposed and studied by Silvaco-ATLAS,for minimizing the specific on-resistance（RonA） at no expense of breakdown voltage（BV）.The feature of non-SJ HFET lies in the nonuniform doping concentration from top to bottom in the n-and p-pillars,which is different from that of the conventional Ga N-based vertical HFET with uniform doping superjunctions（un-SJ HFET）.A physically intrinsic mechanism for the nonuniform doping superjunction（non-SJ） to further reduce RonA at no expense of BV is investigated and revealed in detail.The design,related to the structure parameters of non-SJ,is optimized to minimize the RonA on the basis of the same BV as that of un-SJ HFET.Optimized simulation results show that the reduction in RonA depends on the doping concentrations and thickness values of the light and heavy doping parts in non-SJ.The maximum reduction of more than 51% in RonA could be achieved with a BV of 1890 V.These results could demonstrate the superiority of non-SJ HFET in minimizing RonA and provide a useful reference for further developing the Ga N-based vertical HFETs.

Analysis of the decrease of two-dimensional electron gas concentration in GaN-based HEMT caused by proton irradiation

Gallium nitride(Ga N)-based high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs)that work in aerospace are exposed to particles radiation,which can cause the degradation in electrical performance.We investigate the effect of proton irradiation on the concentration of two-dimensional electron gas(2 DEG)in Ga N-based HEMTs.Coupled Schr¨odinger’s and Poisson’s equations are solved to calculate the band structure and the concentration of 2 DEG by the self-consistency method,in which the vacancies caused by proton irradiation are taken into account.Proton irradiation simulation for Ga N-based HEMT is carried out using the stopping and range of ions in matter(SRIM)simulation software,after which a theoretical model is established to analyze how proton irradiation affects the concentration of 2 DEG.Irradiated by protons with high fluence and low energy,a large number of Ga vacancies appear inside the device.The results indicate that the ionized Ga vacancies in the Ga N cap layer and the Al Ga N layer will affect the Fermi level,while the Ga vacancies in the Ga N layer will trap the two-dimensional electrons in the potential well.Proton irradiation significantly reduced the concentration of 2 DEG by the combined effect of these two mechanisms.

Suppression of electron and hole overflow in GaN-based near-ultraviolet laser diodes

In order to suppress the electron leakage to p-type region of near-ultraviolet GaN/In_xGa_（1-x ）N/GaN multiple-quantumwell（MQW） laser diode（LD）, the Al composition of inserted p-type AlxGa_（1-x）N electron blocking layer（EBL） is optimized in an effective way, but which could only partially enhance the performance of LD. Here, due to the relatively shallow GaN/In_（0.04）Ga_（0.96）N/GaN quantum well, the hole leakage to n-type region is considered in the ultraviolet LD. To reduce the hole leakage, a 10-nm n-type Al_xGa_（1-x）N hole blocking layer（HBL） is inserted between n-type waveguide and the first quantum barrier, and the effect of Al composition of Al_xGa_（1-x）N HBL on LD performance is studied. Numerical simulations by the LASTIP reveal that when an appropriate Al composition of Al_xGa_（1-x）N HBL is chosen, both electron leakage and hole leakage can be reduced dramatically, leading to a lower threshold current and higher output power of LD.

Performance Improvement of GaN-Based Violet Laser Diodes

The influences of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) and AlGaN electron-blocking layers (EBL) on the performance of GaN-based violet laser diodes are investigated. Compared with the InGaN/GaN MQWs grown at two different temperatures, the same-temperature growth of InGaN well and GaN barrier layers has a positive effect on the threshold current and slope efficiency of laser diodes, indicating that the quality of MQWs is improved. In addition, the performance of GaN laser diodes could be further improved by increasing Al content in the AlGaN EBL due to the fact that the electron leakage current could be reduced by properly increasing the barrier height of AlGaN EBL. The violet laser diode with a peak output power of 20 W is obtained.

Different influences of u-InGaN upper waveguide on the performance of GaN-based blue and green laser diodes

Performances of blue and green laser diodes（LDs） with different u-InGaN upper waveguides（UWGs） are investigated theoretically by using LASTIP. It is found that the slope efficiency（SE） of blue LD decreases due to great optical loss when the indium content of u-InGaN UWG is more than 0.02, although its leakage current decreases obviously. Meanwhile the SE of the green LD increases when the indium content of u-InGaN UWG is varied from 0 to 0.05, which is attributed to the reduction of leakage current and the small increase of optical loss. Therefore, a new blue LD structure with In（0.05） Ga（0.95）N lower waveguide（LWG） is designed to reduce the optical loss, and its slope efficiency is improved significantly.

Optoelectronic Properties of GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes with Different Mesa Structures

GaN/InGaN lighting-emitting diodes with different mesa structures are studied. The current-voltage characteristics, light output power, luminous efficiency, and peak wavelength of the GaN/InGaN lighting-emitting diodes with different mesa patterns are compared. It shows that the current-voltage characteristics of the chips with more mesa areas are im- proved greatly by reducing the current crowding. With higher injection current the light output powers of GaN-based LED with more mesa areas are enhanced. And the chips with more P-electrode area have a smaller red shift and a little bit blue shift due to the reduction of the current crowding.

Effect of Nanorod Diameters on Optical Properties of GaN-Based Dual-Color Nanorod Arrays

Dual-color(blue and green) InGaN/GaN nanorod light-emitting diodes(LEDs) with three different nanorod diameters are fabricated. Enhancement of luminescence intensity per area is observed in blue and green wells,to varying degrees. When the diameter is 40 nm, it sharply decreases, which could be explained by the sidewall nonradiative recombination. Time-resolved photoluminescence is conducted to study the carrier lifetime. High recombination rate is observed in nanorod arrays, and is an order of magnitude less than that of the planar LED.When the diameter is 40 nm, the nonradiative lifetime decreases, and this explains the decrease of intensity. The3 D-FDTD simulations show the enhancement of light extraction out of geometry structure by calculating the transmittance of the nanorod arrays.

Fabrication of GaN-Based Heterostructures with an InA1GaN/AlGaN Composite Barrier

CaN-based heterostructures with an InAlCaN/AlCaN composite barrier on sapphire （0001） substrates are grown by a low-pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition system. Compositions of the InAiGaN layer are determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, structure and crystal quality of the heterostruetures are identified by high resolution x-ray diffraction, surface morphology of the samples are examined by an atomic force microscope, and Hall effect and capacitance-voltage measurements are performed at room temperature to evaluate the electrical properties of heterostructures. The Al/In ratio of the InAlGaN layer is 4.43, which indicates that the InAlCaN quaternary layer is nearly lattice-matched to the CaN channel. Capacitance-voltage results show that there is no parasitic channel formed between the InAIGaN layer and the AlCaN layer. Compared with the InAl- CaN/CaN heterostructure, the electrical properties of the InAlCaN/AlGaN/GaN heterostructure are improved obviously. Influences of the thickness of the AlGaN layer on the electrical properties of the heterostructures are studied. With the optimal thickness of the AlGaN layer to be 5 nm, the 2DEG mobility, sheet density and the sheet resistance of the sample is 1889.61 cm2/V.s, 1.44 × 10^13 cm-2 and as low as 201.1 Ω/sq, respectively.

Aging mechanism of GaN-based yellow LEDs with V-pits

GaN-based yellow light-emitting diodes(LEDs) on Si substrates are aged at a direct current density of 50 A/cm^2 for500 h. After the aging process, it can be found that the LEDs have a stable electrical property but their light output power is decayed by 4.01% at 35 A/cm^2. Additionally, the aging mechanism of GaN-based yellow LED is analyzed. It is found that the decay of light output power may be attributed to the following two reasons: one is the increase of Shockley–Rrad–Hall recombination and the other is the change of the transport path of holes via V-pits after aging, which may induce the radiative recombination current to decrease. In this paper, not only the aging mechanism of GaN-based yellow LED is investigated, but also a new possible research direction in LED aging is given.

A two-dimensional fully analytical model with polarization effect for off-state channel potential and electric field distributions of GaN-based field-plated high electron mobility transistor

In this paper, we present a two-dimensional （2D） fully analytical model with consideration of polarization effect for the channel potential and electric field distributions of the gate field-plated high electron mobility transistor （FP-HEMT） on the basis of 2D Poisson＇s solution. The dependences of the channel potential and electric field distributions on drain bias, polarization charge density, FP structure parameters, A1GaN/GaN material parameters, etc. are investigated. A simple and convenient approach to designing high breakdown voltage FP-HEMTs is also proposed. The validity of this model is demonstrated by comparison with the numerical simulations with Silvaco-Atlas. The method in this paper can be extended to the development of other analytical models for different device structures, such as MIS-HEMTs, multiple-FP HETMs, slant-FP HEMTs, etc.

Influence of patterned TiO_2/SiO_2 dielectric multilayers for back and front mirror facets on GaN-based laser diodes

Ridge InGaN multi-quantum-well-structure （MQW） edge-emitting laser diodes （LDs） were grown on （0001） sapphire substrates by low-pressure metal-organic chemical vapour deposition （MOCVD）. The dielectric TiO2/SiO2 front and back facet coatings as cavity mirror facets of the LDs have been deposited with electron-beam evaporation method. The reflectivity of the designed front coating is about 50% and that of the back high reflective coating is as high as 99.9%. Under pulsed current injection at room temperature, the influences of the dielectric facets were discussed. The threshold current of the ridge GaN-based LDs was decreased after the deposition of the back high reflective dielectric mirrors and decreased again after the front facets were deposited. Above the threshold, the slope efficiency of the LDs with both reflective facets was larger than those with only back facets and without any reflective facets. It is important to design the reflectivity of the front facets for improving the performance of GaN-based LDs.

Progress and prospects of GaN-based LEDs using nanostructures

Progress with GaN-based light emitting diodes （LEDs） that incorporate nanostructures is reviewed, especially the re- cent achievements in our research group. Nano-patterned sapphire substrates have been used to grow an A1N template layer for deep-ultraviolet （DUV） LEDs. One efficient surface nano-texturing technology, hemisphere-cones-hybrid nanostruc- tures, was employed to enhance the extraction efficiency of InGaN flip-chip LEDs. Hexagonal nanopyramid GaN-based LEDs have been fabricated and show electrically driven color modification and phosphor-free white light emission because of the linearly increased quantum well width and indium incorporation from the shell to the core. Based on the nanostruc- tures, we have also fabricated surface plasmon-enhanced nanoporous GaN-based green LEDs using AAO membrane as a mask. Benefitting from the strong lateral SP coupling as well as good electrical protection by a passivation layer, the EL intensity of an SP-enhanced nanoporous LED was significantly enhanced by 380%. Furthermore, nanostructures have been used for the growth of GaN LEDs on amorphous substrates, the fabrication of stretchable LEDs, and for increasing the 3-dB modulation bandwidth for visible light communication.