Yale University

Sandia Corporation

Saphlux, Inc.

Jung Han

Jie Song

Yufeng Li

Yu Zhang

Danti Chen

Qian Sun

Cheng Zhang

Benjamin Leung

Carol I Ashby

Gary L Haller

Lisa D Pfefferle

Dragos Ciuparu

David M Follstaedt

Ge Yuan

Karen Waldrip

Stephen R Lee

Jie Su

Christine C Mitchell

Chia-Feng Lin

Sung Hyun Park

Jeffrey J Figiel

Methods and structures for forming vertical-cavity light-emitting devices are described. An n-side or bottom-side layer may be laterally etched to form a porous semiconductor region and converted to a porous oxide. The porous oxide can provide a current-blocking and guiding layer that aids in directing bias current through an active area of the light-emitting device. Distributed Bragg reflectors may be fabricated on both sides of the active region to form a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser. The light-emitting devices may be formed from III-nitride materials.

Method for a GaN vertical microcavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL)

Structures and methods for forming highly uniform and high-porosity gallium-nitride layers with sub-100-nm pore sizes are described. Electrochemical etching of heavily-doped gallium nitride at low bias voltages in concentrated nitric acid is used to form the porous gallium nitride. The porous layers may be used in reflective structures for integrated optical devices such as VCSELs and LEDs.

Method for GaN vertical microcavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL)

A conductive, porous gallium-nitride layer can be formed as an active layer in a multilayer structure adjacent to one or more p-type III-nitride layers, which may be buried in a multilayer stack of an integrated device. During an annealing process, dopant-bound atomic species in the p-type layers that might otherwise neutralize the dopants may dissociate and out-diffuse from the device through the porous layer. The release and removal of the neutralizing species may reduce layer resistance and improve device performance.

Method to make buried, highly conductive p-type III-nitride layers

Methods and structures for forming epitaxial layers of Ill-nitride materials on patterned foreign substrates with low stacking fault densities are described. Semipolar and nonpolar orientations of GaN that are essentially free from stacking faults may be grown from crystal-growth facets of a patterned substrate. Etching can be used to remove stacking faults if present. Crystal growth with an impurity can eliminate crystal growth from a facet that is responsible for stacking fault formation and permit substantially stacking-fault-free growth of the Ill-nitride material.

Stacking fault-free semipolar and nonpolar GaN grown on foreign substrates by eliminating the nitrogen polar facets during the growth

Aspects of the disclosure provide for mechanisms for producing group III-nitride substrates. In accordance with some embodiments, a method for producing a group III-nitride substrate is provided. The method may include: forming, on a growth template, an epitaxial layer of a group III-nitride material comprising a surface with a first crystallographic orientation, wherein the first crystallographic orientation comprises a semipolar orientation or a nonpolar orientation; and separating the epitaxial layer of the group III-nitride material from the growth template to produce the group III-nitride substrate, wherein the growth template comprises a semiconductor layer of the group III-nitride material. The group III-nitride material may include gallium.

Semipolar or nonpolar group III-nitride substrates

Edge-emitting laser diodes having high confinement factors and lattice-matched, porous cladding layers are described. The laser diodes may be formed from layers of III-nitride material. A cladding layer may be electrochemically etched to form a porous cladding layer having a high refractive index contrast with an active junction of the device. A transparent conductive oxide layer may be deposited to form a top-side cladding layer with high refractive index contrast and low resistivity.

Method and device concerning III-nitride edge emitting laser diode of high confinement factor with lattice matched cladding layer

This invention relates to methods of generating NP gallium nitride (GaN) across large areas (&#x3e;1 cm) with controlled pore diameters, pore density, and porosity. Also disclosed are methods of generating novel optoelectronic devices based on porous GaN. Additionally a layer transfer scheme to separate and create free-standing crystalline GaN thin layers is disclosed that enables a new device manufacturing paradigm involving substrate recycling. Other disclosed embodiments of this invention relate to fabrication of GaN based nanocrystals and the use of NP GaN electrodes for electrolysis, water splitting, or photosynthetic process applications.

Conductivity based on selective etch for GaN devices and applications thereof

Methods are provided for generating a crystalline material. The methods comprise depositing a textured thin film in a growth seed area, wherein the textured thin film has a preferential crystallographic axis; providing a growth channel extending from the growth seed area, the growth channel permitting guided lateral growth; and growing a crystalline material in the growth channel along a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the preferential crystallographic axis of the textured thin film. A preferred crystalline material is gallium nitride, and preferred textured thin films are aluminum nitride and titanium nitride.

Heterogeneous material integration through guided lateral growth

Methods and structures for forming flat, continuous, planar, epitaxial layers of semipolar III-nitride materials on patterned sapphire substrates are described. Semipolar GaN may be grown from inclined c-plane facets on a patterned sapphire substrate, and coalesced to form a continuous layer of semipolar III-nitride semiconductor over the sapphire substrate. Planarization of the layer is followed by crystal regrowth using a nitrogen carrier gas to produce a flat, microfabrication-grade, process surface of semipolar III-nitride semiconductor across the substrate. Quality multiple quantum wells can be fabricated in the regrown semipolar material.

Method of obtaining planar semipolar gallium nitride surfaces

Methods and structures for forming epitaxial layers of semipolar III-nitride materials on patterned sapphire substrates are described. Semi-nitrogen-polar GaN may be grown from inclined c-plane facets of sapphire and coalesced to form a continuous layer of (2021) GaN over the sapphire substrate. Nitridation of the sapphire and a low-temperature GaN buffer layer is used to form semi-nitrogen-polar GaN.

Nitrogen-polar semipolar and gallium-polar semipolar GaN layers and devices on sapphire substrates

Structures and methods for confined lateral-guided growth of a large-area semiconductor layer on an insulating layer are described. The semiconductor layer may be formed by heteroepitaxial growth from a selective growth area in a vertically-confined, lateral-growth guiding structure. Lateral-growth guiding structures may be formed in arrays over a region of a substrate, so as to cover a majority of the substrate region with laterally-grown epitaxial semiconductor tiles. Quality regions of low-defect, stress-free GaN may be grown on silicon.

Large-area, laterally-grown epitaxial semiconductor layers

Conductivity-selective lateral etching of III-nitride materials is described. Methods and structures for making vertical cavity surface emitting lasers with distributed Bragg reflectors via electrochemical etching are described. Layer-selective, lateral electrochemical etching of multi-layer stacks is employed to form semiconductor/air DBR structures adjacent active multiple quantum well regions of the lasers. The electrochemical etching techniques are suitable for high-volume production of lasers and other III-nitride devices, such as lasers, HEMT transistors, power transistors, MEMs structures, and LEDs.

Lateral electrochemical etching of III-nitride materials for microfabrication

Highly ordered and aligned epitaxy of III-Nitride nanowires is demonstrated in this work. &#x3c;100&#x3e; M-axis is identified as a preferential nanowire growth direction through a detailed study of GaN/AlN trunk/branch nanostructures by transmission electron microscopy. Crystallographic selectivity can be used to achieve spatial and orientational control of nanowire growth. Vertically aligned (Al)GaN nanowires are prepared on M-plane AlN substrates. Horizontally ordered nanowires, extending from the M-plane sidewalls of GaN hexagonal mesas or islands demonstrate new opportunities for self-aligned nanowire devices, interconnects, and networks.

Epitaxial growth of aligned AlGalnN nanowires by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

A transition metal substituted, amorphous mesoporous silica framework with a high degree of structural order and a narrow pore diameter distribution (&#xb1;0.15 nm FWHM) was synthesized and used for the templated growth of GaN nanostructures, such as single wall nanotubes, nanopipes and nanowires. The physical properties of the GaN nanostructures (diameter, diameter distribution, electronic characteristic) can be controlled by the template pore diameter and the pore wall chemistry. GaN nanostructures can find applications, for example, in nanoscale electronic devices, such as field-emitters, and in chemical sensors.

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Woodbridge, CT, United States of America

Jung Han