Novel Approaches to High-Efficiency III-V Nitride Heterostructure Emitters for Next-Generation Lighting Applications

We report research activities and technical progress on the development of high-efficiency long wavelength ({lambda} {approx} 540nm) green light emitting diodes which covers the first year of the three-year program ''Novel approaches to high-efficiency III-V nitride heterostructure emitters for next-generation lighting applications''. The first year activities were focused on the installation, set-up, and use of advanced equipment for the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition growth of III-nitride films and the characterization of these materials (Task 1) and the design, fabrication, testing of nitride LEDs (Task 4). As a progress highlight, we obtained improved quality of {approx} 2 {micro}m-thick GaN layers (as measured by the full width at half maximum of the asymmetric (102) X-ray diffraction peak of less than 350 arc-s) and higher p-GaN:Mg doping level (free hole carrier higher than 1E18 cm{sup -3}). Also in this year, we have developed the growth of InGaN/GaN active layers for long-wavelength green light emitting diodes, specifically, for emission at {lambda} {approx} 540nm. The effect of the Column III precursor (for Ga) and the post-growth thermal annealing effect were also studied. Our LED device fabrication process was developed and initially optimized, especially for low-resistance ohmic contacts for p-GaN:Mg layers, and blue-green light emitting diode structures were processed and characterized