AlGaN-Based Deep Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes with Thermally Oxidized Al x Ga2- x O3 Sidewalls

Tien-Yu Wang; Wei-Chih Lai; Syuan-Yu Sie; Sheng-Po Chang; Cheng-Huang Kuo; Jinn-Kong Sheu; Jong-Shing Bow

doi:10.1021/acsomega.2c00813

AlGaN-Based Deep Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes with Thermally Oxidized Al _x Ga_{2- x} O₃ Sidewalls

ACS Omega. 2022 Apr 20;7(17):15027-15036. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c00813. eCollection 2022 May 3.

Authors

Tien-Yu Wang¹, Wei-Chih Lai^{1

2}, Syuan-Yu Sie¹, Sheng-Po Chang^{1

2

3}, Cheng-Huang Kuo⁴, Jinn-Kong Sheu^{1

2}, Jong-Shing Bow⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Photonics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan.
² Advanced Optoelectronic Technology Center, Research Center for Energy Technology and Strategy, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan.
³ Institute of Microelectronics and Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan.
⁴ Institute of Lighting and Energy Photonics, College of Photonics, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Tainan 71150, Taiwan.
⁵ Integrated Service Technology Inc., Hsinchu 30078, Taiwan.

Abstract

AlGaN and GaN sidewalls were turned into Al _x Ga_2-x O₃ and Ga₂O₃, respectively, by thermal oxidation to improve the optoelectrical characteristics of deep ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The thermally oxidized Ga₂O₃ is a single crystal with nanosized voids homogenously distributed inside the layer. Two oxidized Al _x Ga_2-x O₃ layers were observed on the sidewall of the AlGaN layer in transmission electron microscopy images. The first oxidized Al _x Ga_2-x O₃ layer is a single crystal, while the second oxidized Al _x Ga_2-xO₃ layer is a single crystal with numerous nanosized voids inside. The composition of Al in the first oxidized Al _x Ga_2-x O₃ layer is higher than that in the second one. The thermal oxidation at high temperature degrades the quality of the p-GaN layer and increases the forward voltage from 8.18 to 11.36 V. The thermally oxidized Al _x Ga_2-x O₃ sidewall greatly enhances the light extraction efficiency of the lateral light of the DUV LEDs by combined mechanisms of holey structure, graded refractive index, high transparency, and tensile stress. Consequently, the light output power of the DUV LEDs increases from 0.69 to 0.88 mW by introducing a 420 nm thick Al _x Ga_2-x O₃ sidewall oxidized at 900 °C, in which the enhancement of light output power can reach 27.5%.