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 whole years of the three-year program 'Novel approaches to high-efficiency III-V nitride heterostructure emitters for next-generation lighting applications'. The research activities were focused on the development of p-type layer that has less/no detrimental thermal annealing effect on as well as excellent structural and electrical properties and the development of green LED active region that has superior luminescence quality for {lambda}{approx}540nm green LEDs. We have also studied (1) the thermal annealing effect on blue and green LED active region during the p-type layer growth; (2) the effect of growth parameters and structural factors for LED active region on electroluminescence properties; (3) the effect of substrates and orientation on electrical and electro-optical properties of green LEDs. As a progress highlight, we obtained green-LED-active-region-friendly In{sub 0.04}Ga{sub 0.96}N:Mg exhibiting low resistivity with higher hole concentration (p=2.0 x 10{sup 18} cm{sup -3} and a low resistivity of 0.5 {omega}-cm) and improved optical quality green LED active region emitting at {approx}540nm by electroluminescence. The LEDs with p-InGaN layer can act as a quantum-confined Stark effect mitigation layer by reducing strain in the QW. We also have achieved (projected) peak IQE of {approx}25% at {lambda}{approx}530 nm and of {approx}13% at {lambda}{approx}545 nm. Visible LEDs on a non-polar substrate using (11-20) {alpha}-plane bulk substrates. The absence of quantum-confined Stark effect was confirmed but further improvement in electrical and optical properties is required