The invention is related to light emitting devices, and in particular to light emitting devices having indirect bandgap materials.
Truly green semiconductor lasers and LEDs featuring an emission peak wavelength of 530-532 nm, have been a missing component for high quality full color display. InGaN lasers and LEDs emit a bluish-green color at 515 nm, while InGaP lasers and LEDs emit a yellowish-green color at 571 nm. For InGaN system, shifting the emission wavelength to 530 nm is mainly limited by the difficulty in growing high quality, high indium content materials. For InGaP system, tuning the wavelength to 530 nm is limited by a direct-to-indirect gap transition at a Ga content of >72%. Currently, green lasers are achieved by frequency doubling an infrared laser with nonlinear optical materials. However, the efficiency is usually limited to a few percent. much lower than typical semiconductor lasers.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a light emitting device. The light emitting device includes at least one first semiconductor material layers and at least one second semiconductor material layers. At least one near-direct band gap material layers are positioned between the at least one first semiconductor layers and the at least one second semiconductor material layers. The at least one first semiconductor layers and the at least one second material layers have a larger band gap than the at least one near-direct band gap material layers. The at least one near-direct band gap material layers have an energy difference between the direct and indirect band gaps of less than 0.5 eV.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of forming a light emitting device. The method includes forming at least one first semiconductor material layers and forming at least one second semiconductor material layers. Also, the method includes positioning at least one near-direct band gap material layers between the at least one first semiconductor layers and the at least one second semiconductor material layers. The at least one first semiconductor layers and the at least one second material layers have a larger band gap than the at least one near-direct band gap material layers. The at least one near-direct band gap material layers have an energy difference between the direct and indirect band gaps of less than 0.5 eV.
The invention involves forming novel light emitting devices using indirect bandgap materials. Doped, indirect elemental semiconductor materials, such as germanium, can be engineered as a gain medium for lasing. The invention extends this observation to indirect compound semiconductor materials of various compositions of Al, In, Ga, P, and As for lasing in the wavelength range between 500 nm and 560 nm.
Adequate strain can also be incorporated to further enhance the direct gap emission from the indirect gap material. As an example for green lasers/LEDs, an indirect gap InGaP alloy with a Ga content of 73-95% can be adopted for light emission between 500-560 nm. In this case the direct band gap is larger than the indirect band gap by less than 0.25 eV, and this small difference can be compensated with an n-type doping of 1017-1020 cm−3 and a tensile strain of up to 3%. The InGaP material with a Ga content of 73-90% can be grown on a lattice-matched SiGe buffer layer for high crystal quality, or a SiGe buffer layer with a larger lattice constant to obtain tensile strain. The indirect gap InGaP layer can also be grown on GaP or GaAs substrates. Another example is indirect gap AlGaAs with an Al content of 50-90%. In this case, the direct band gap is larger than the indirect band gap by less than 0.4 eV, and the difference can be compensated by an n-type doping of 1018-1021 cm−3 and a tensile strain of up to 3% to obtain green emission from the direct gap transition. Other examples include InAIP with Al content >0.45 and indirect gap InAlAs. The same principle is also applicable to II-VI semiconductors as well as quantum-confined structures.
The major advantage of the inventive approach in engineering emission wavelengths is that it effectively extends the emission capability of a material system to a wavelength range traditionally considered inaccessible. For example, InGaP system is conventionally considered unsuitable for truly green emission yet the invention makes it possible. Using the inventive approach within the same material system by n-type doping and strain is a much easier solution than completely changing the material system just to reach a particular emission wavelength, especially considering that some of these material changes significantly increase fabrication cost. The invention also enables integration of different colors of lasers or LEDs using the same material system at relatively low cost.
Although the present invention has been shown and described with respect to several preferred embodiments thereof, various changes, omissions and additions to the form and detail thereof, may be made therein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
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