Stress and dislocation control of GaN epitaxial films grown on Si substrates and their application in high-performance light-emitting diodes

摘要

GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on Si substrates are promising to replace conventional lamps due to the advantages of energy-saving and low-cost of LEDs grown on large-size Si substrates. However, high-density dislocations and cracks of GaN epitaxial films are usually formed that limit the further development and application of GaN-based LEDs. To circumvent the issues, the step-graded AlGaN buffer layers are carefully designed to grow GaN epitaxial films on Si substrates. The mechanisms of dislocations and stresses for GaN epitaxial films controlled by step-graded AlGaN buffer layers are also investigated by analyzing dislocations evolution and stresses relaxation at the hetero-interfaces. Afterwards, 3.0 mmthick high-quality GaN epitaxial films grown on Si substrates have been obtained, and high-quality GaNbased LED wafers are obtained accordingly with small full-width at half-maximums (FWHMs) for GaN(0002) and GaN(10-12) X-ray rocking curves of 272 and 297 arcsec, respectively. The corresponding vertical-structure LED chips reveal high-performance with a high light output power of 592 mW and a small working voltage of 2.77 V @ 456 nm, at a current of 350 mA. This work provides an effective approach for the growth of high-quality crack-free GaN epitaxial films on Si substrates for the fabrication of high-performance GaN-based devices. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.