Compositionally graded AlGaN hole source layer for deep-ultraviolet nanowire light-emitting diode without electron blocking layer

Muhammad Nawaz Sharif; Muhammad Usman; Mussaab Ibrahim Niass; Juin J Liou; Fang Wang; Yuhuai Liu

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/ac218b

Compositionally graded AlGaN hole source layer for deep-ultraviolet nanowire light-emitting diode without electron blocking layer

Nanotechnology. 2021 Nov 24;33(7). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac218b.

Authors

Muhammad Nawaz Sharif¹, Muhammad Usman², Mussaab Ibrahim Niass¹, Juin J Liou¹, Fang Wang^{1

3}, Yuhuai Liu^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ National Center for International Joint Research of Electronic Materials and Systems, International Joint-Laboratory of Electronic Materials and Systems of Henan Province, and Henan Key Laboratory of Laser and Opto-electric Information Technology, School of Information Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450001, People's Republic of China.
² Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi, 23460, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
³ Zhengzhou Way Do Electronics Co. Ltd, Zhengzhou, Henan 450001, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Institute of Materials and Systems for Sustainability, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi-ken 464-8601, Japan.

PMID: 34438377
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac218b

Abstract

The electron blocking layer (EBL) plays a vital role in blocking the electron overflow from an active region in the AlGaN-based deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diode (DUV-LED). Besides the blocking of electron overflow, EBL reduces hole injection toward the active region. In this work, we proposed a DUV nanowire (NW) LED structure without EBL by replacing it with a compositionally continuous graded hole source layer (HSL). Our proposed graded HSL without EBL provides a better electron blocking effect and enhanced hole injection efficiency. As a result, optical power is improved by 48% and series resistance is reduced by 50% with 4.8 V threshold voltage. Moreover, graded HSL without EBL offer reduced electric field within the active region, which leads to a significant increment in radiative recombination rate and enhancement of spontaneous emission by 34% at 254 nm wavelength, as a result, 52% maximum internal quantum efficiency with 24% efficiency drop is reported.

Keywords: AlGaN semiconductor; DUV nanowire LED; electron blocking layer and hole source layer.