In this dissertation, the design and fabrication of deep-ultraviolet photodetectors were investigated based on gallium oxide and its alloys, through the heterogeneous integration with metallic and other inorganic materials. The crystallographic properties of oxide films grown directly and indirectly on silicon, magnesium oxide, and sapphire are examined, and the challenges that hinder the realization of efficient and reliable deep-ultraviolet photodetectors are described. In recent years, single-crystalline heterojunction photodiodes employing beta-polymorph gallium oxide thin films as the main absorption layers have been studied. However, reports in the literature generally lack a thorough examination of epitaxial growth processes of high-quality single-crystalline beta-polymorph gallium oxide thin films on metals, such as transition metal nitrides. My research was initiated by demonstrating an ultraviolet-C photodetector based on an amorphous aluminum gallium oxide photoconductive layer grown directly on (100)-oriented silicon. The solar-blind photodetector exhibited a peak spectral responsivity of 1.17 A/W. This is the first reported gallium oxide-based photodetector to have been grown and fabricated directly on silicon. The growth of high-quality monoclinic crystals on cubic silicon is a challenging process, which is largely due to the large lattice mismatch that compromises the crystal quality of the oxide layer, and leads to the degradation of device performance. This issue was addressed by growing the material on substrates with metal nitride templates, which resulted in improvements to the oxide crystal quality. Consequently, high optical gain ultraviolet-C photodetectors were fabricated based on a beta-polymorph gallium oxide photoconductive layer grown on magnesium oxide and silicon substrates with titanium nitride templates. The enhanced solar-blind photodetectors exhibited peak spectral responsivity levels as high as 276 A/W. Moreover, thin polymorphic gallium oxide films were grown on c-plane sapphire using pulsed laser deposition for the first time. The stacked thin films, namely epsilon- and beta-polymorph gallium oxide, were sequentially grown under the same conditions. X-ray diffraction measurements and transmission electron microscopy micrographs confirmed a heteroepitaxially grown beta-polymorph gallium oxide on a heterogeneously nucleated epsilon-polymorph gallium oxide polymorphic heterostructure on c-plane sapphire, which had rocking-curve widths of 1.4° (β-Ga2O3 (−603)) and 0.6° (ε-Ga2O3 (006)).

III-nitride semiconductors suffer significant efficiency limitations; ‘efficiency’ being an umbrella term that covers an extensive list of challenges that must be overcome if they are to fulfil their vast potential. To this end, it is imperative to understand the underlying phenomena behind such limitations. In this dissertation, I combine powerful optical and structural characterization techniques to investigate the effect of different defects on the carrier dynamics in III-nitride materials for light emitting devices. The results presented herein will enhance the current understanding of the carrier mechanisms in such devices, which will lead to device efficiency improvements. In the first part of this dissertation, the effects of some important types of crystal defects present in III-nitride structures are investigated. Here, two types of defects are studied in two different III-nitride-based light emitting structures. The first defects of interest are V-pit defects in InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) blue LEDs, where their contribution to the high-efficiency of such LEDs is discussed. In addition, the effect of these defects on the efficiency droop phenomenon in these LEDs is elucidated. Secondly, the optical effects of grain boundary defects in AlN-rich AlGaN/AlGaN MQWs is studied. In this study, it is shown that grain boundary defects may result in abnormal carrier localization behavior in these deep ultraviolet (UV) structures. While both defects are treated individually, it is evident from these studies that threading dislocation (TD) defects are an underlying contributor to the more undesirable outcomes of the said defects. In the second part, the dissertation reports on the carrier dynamics of III-nitride LED structures grown on emerging substrates—as possible efficiency enhancing techniques—aimed at mitigating the effects of TD defects. Thus, the carrier dynamics of GaN/AlGaN UV MQWs grown, for the first time, on (2̅01) – oriented β-Ga2O3 is studied. It is shown to be a candidate substrate for highly efficient vertical UV devices. Finally, results from the carrier dynamics investigation of an AlGaN/AlGaN MQW LED structure homoepitaxially grown on AlN substrate are discussed, where it is shown that its high-efficiency is sustained at high temperatures through the thermal redistribution of carriers to highly efficient recombination sites.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第18229号 / 工博第3821号 / 新制||工||1585(附属図書館) / 31087 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科電子工学専攻 / (主査)教授 川上 養一, 教授 北野 正雄, 教授 木本 恒暢 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

This thesis presents the development of III-nitride materials for deep-ultraviolet (DUV) light emitting devices. The goal of this research is to develop a DUV laser diode (LD) operating at room temperature. Epitaxial structures for these devices are grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and several material analysis techniques were employed to characterize these structures such as atomic force microscopy, electroluminescence, Hall-effect measurement, photoluminescence, secondary ion mass spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy, transmission line measurement, and X-ray diffraction. Each of these will be discussed in detail. The active regions of III-nitride based UV emitters are composed of AlxGa1-xN alloys, the bandgap of which can be tuned from 3.4 eV to 6.2 eV, which allows us to attain the desired wavelength in the DUV by engineering the molar fraction of aluminum and gallium. In order to emit photons in the DUV wavelength range (> 4.1 eV), high aluminum molar fraction AlxGa1-xN alloys are required. Since aluminum has very low ad-atom mobility on the growth surface, a very low group V to group III precursor ratio (known as V/III ratio), high growth temperature, and low growth pressure is required to form a smooth surface and subsequently abrupt heterointerfaces. The first part of this work focuses on developing high-quality multi-quantum well structures using high aluminum molar fraction ([Al] > 60%) AlxGa1-xN alloys. Optically pumped DUV lasers were demonstrated with threshold power density as low as 250 kW/cm² for the emission wavelength as short as 248.3 nm. Transverse electric (TE) -like emission dominates when the lasers were operating above threshold power density, which suggests the diode design requires the active region to be fully strained to promote better confinement of the optical mode in transverse direction. The second phase of this project is to achieve an electrically driven injection diode laser. Owing to their large bandgap, low intrinsic carrier concentration, and relatively high dopant activation energy, the nature of these high aluminum molar fraction materials are highly insulating; therefore, efficiently transport carriers into active region is one of the main challenges. Highly conducting p-type material is especially difficult to achieve because the activation energy for magnesium, a typical dopant, is relatively large and some of the acceptors are compensated by the hydrogen during the growth. Furthermore, due to the lack of a large work function material to form a p-type ohmic contact, the p-contact layer design is limited to low aluminum molar fraction material or gallium nitride. Besides the fabrication challenges, these low aluminum molar fraction materials are not transparent to the laser wavelength causing relatively high internal loss (αi). In this work, an inverse tapered p-waveguide design is employed to transport holes to active region efficiently while the graded-index separate-confinement heterostructure (GRINSCH) is employed for the active region design. Together, a multi-quantum well (MQW) ultraviolet emitter was demonstrated.

No description available.

Designs for deep ultraviolet (DUV) edge emitting laser diodes (LDs) based on the wurtzite III-nitride (III-N) material system are presented. A combination of proprietary and commercial advanced semiconductor LD simulation software is used to study the operation of III-N based DUV LDs theoretically. Critical factors limiting device performance are identified based on an extensive literature survey. A comprehensive design parameter space is investigated thoroughly with the help of advanced scripting capabilities. Several design strategies are proposed to eliminate the critical problems completely or partially. A DUV LD design is proposed based exclusively on AlInN active layers grown epitaxially on bulk AlN substrates because AlInN offers a promising alternative to AlGaN for the realization of LDs and LEDs operating in the DUV regime. The proposed AlInN-based design also features a tapered electron blocking layer (EBL) instead of a homogeneous one. Tapered EBLs redistribute the interfacial polarization charge volumetrically throughout the entire EBL thickness via compositional grading, and eliminate the parasitic inversion layer charge. AlGaN based DUV LD designs are explored also because at present, it may be difficult to grow AlInN epitaxially with superior crystalline quality. Polarization charge matching is proposed to improve electron and hole wavefunction overlap within the active region. Although the strategy of polarization charge matching has already been proposed in the literature to enhance performance of visible wavelength LEDs and LDs, the proposed design presents the first demonstration that polarization charge matching is also feasible for DUV LDs operating at sub-300 nm wavelengths. A lateral current injection (LCI) LD design is proposed featuring polarization-charge-matched barriers and regrown Ohmic contacts to avoid a group of issues related to the highly inefficient p-type doping of wide bandgap III-N materials in vertical injection designs. The proposed design partially decouples the problem of electrical injection from that of optical confinement. Although the idea of an LCI LD design has been proposed in the literature in the 90s to be used as longer wavelength active sources in optoelectronic integrated circuits using GaInAsP/InP and related material systems, the proposed design is the first theoretical demonstration that this concept can be applied to DUV LDs based on III-N material system. To solve the problem of hole transport in vertical injection designs, a DUV LD design based exclusively on AlGaN material system is presented, featuring an inverse-tapered p-waveguide layer instead of an EBL. Several EBL designs are investigated, and compared with conventionally-tapered EBL design. Through judicious volumetric redistribution of fixed negative polarization charge, inverse tapering may be exploited to achieve nearly flat valence band profiles free from barriers to hole injection into the active region, in contrast to conventional designs. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the inverse tapered strategy is a viable solution for efficient hole injection in vertical injection DUV LDs operating at shorter wavelengths (< 290 nm).