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    Status and Prospects of AlN Templates on Sapphire for Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2020) Hagedorn, Sylvia; Walde, Sebastian; Knauer, Arne; Susilo, Norman; Pacak, Daniel; Cancellara, Leonardo; Netzel, Carsten; Mogilatenko, Anna; Hartmann, Carsten; Wernicke, Tim; Kneissl, Michael; Weyers, Markus
    Herein, the scope is to provide an overview on the current status of AlN/sapphire templates for ultraviolet B (UVB) and ultraviolet C (UVC) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with focus on the work done previously. Furthermore, approaches to improve the properties of such AlN/sapphire templates by the combination of high-temperature annealing (HTA) and patterned AlN/sapphire interfaces are discussed. While the beneficial effect of HTA is demonstrated for UVC LEDs, the growth of relaxed AlGaN buffer layers on HTA AlN is a challenge. To achieve relaxed AlGaN with a low dislocation density, the applicability of HTA for AlGaN is investigated. © 2020 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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    High-Temperature Annealing of AlGaN
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2020) Hagedorn, Sylvia; Khan, Taimoor; Netzel, Carsten; Hartmann, Carsten; Walde, Sebastian; Weyers, Markus
    In the past few years, high-temperature annealing of AlN has become a proven method for providing AlN layers with low dislocation densities. Herein, the example of Al0.77Ga0.23N is used to investigate whether annealing can also improve the material quality of the ternary alloy. A detailed analysis of the influence of annealing temperature on structural and optical material properties is presented. It is found that with increasing annealing temperature, the threading dislocation density can be lowered from an initial value of 6.0 × 109 down to 2.6 × 109 cm−2. Ga depletion at the AlGaN surface and Ga diffusion into the AlN buffer layer are observed. After annealing, the defect luminescence between 3 and 4 eV is increased, accompanied by an increase in the oxygen concentration by about two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, due to annealing optical absorption at 325 nm (3.8 eV) occurs, which increases with increasing annealing temperature. It is assumed that the reason for this decrease in ultraviolet (UV) transmittance is the increasing number of vacancies caused by the removal of group-III and N atoms from the AlGaN lattice during annealing.
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    Improving AlN Crystal Quality and Strain Management on Nanopatterned Sapphire Substrates by High-Temperature Annealing for UVC Light-Emitting Diodes
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2020) Hagedorn, Sylvia; Walde, Sebastian; Susilo, Norman; Netzel, Carsten; Tillner, Nadine; Unger, Ralph-Stephan; Manley, Phillip; Ziffer, Eviathar; Wernicke, Tim; Becker, Christiane; Lugauer, Hans-Jürgen; Kneissl, Michael; Weyers, Markus
    Herein, AlN growth by metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy on hole-type nanopatterned sapphire substrates is investigated. Cracking occurs for an unexpectedly thin-layer thickness, which is associated to altered nucleation conditions caused by the sapphire pattern. To overcome the obstacle of cracking and at the same time to decrease the threading dislocation density by an order of magnitude, high-temperature annealing (HTA) of a 300 nm-thick AlN starting layer is successfully introduced. By this method, 800 nm-thick, fully coalesced and crack-free AlN is grown on 2 in. nanopatterned sapphire wafers. The usability of such templates as basis for UVC light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is furthermore proved by subsequent growth of an UVC-LED heterostructure with single peak emission at 265 nm. Prerequisites for the enhancement of the light extraction efficiency by hole-type nanopatterned sapphire substrates are discussed. © 2020 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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    High‐Temperature Annealing and Patterned AlN/Sapphire Interfaces
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Hagedorn, Sylvia; Mogilatenko, Anna; Walde, Sebastian; Pacak, Daniel; Weinrich, Jonas; Hartmann, Carsten; Weyers, Markus
    Using the example of epitaxial lateral overgrowth of AlN on trench-patterned AlN/sapphire templates, the impact of introducing a high-temperature annealing step into the process chain is investigated. Covering the open surfaces of sapphire trench sidewalls with a thin layer of AlN is found to be necessary to preserve the trench shape during annealing. Both the influence of annealing temperature and annealing duration are investigated. To avoid the deformation of the AlN/sapphire interface during annealing, the annealing duration or annealing temperature must be low enough. Annealing for 1 h at 1730 °C is found to allow for the lowest threading dislocation density of 3.5 × 108 cm−2 in the subsequently grown AlN, while maintaining an uncracked smooth surface over the entire 2 in. wafer. Transmission electron microscopy study confirms the defect reduction by high-temperature annealing and reveals an additional strain relaxation mechanism by accumulation of horizontal dislocation lines at the interface between annealed and nonannealed AlN. By applying a second annealing step, the dislocation density can be further reduced to 2.5 × 108 cm−2.