This application claims the benefit of priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2012-0053152, filed on May 18, 2012, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field
The present disclosure relates to aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) thin films, of which density of n-type impurities varies sequentially, and ultraviolet light emitting devices including the thin films.
2. Background
A light emitting device converts a current into light, and the wavelength of emitted light varies according to the semiconductor material included in the light emitting device. In other words, the wavelength of emitted light varies according to the band-gaps of semiconductor materials, that is, the energy differences between electrons of a valence band and electrons of a conduction band.
An ultraviolet light emitting device emits ultraviolet light. To emit ultraviolet light, n-aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN), AlGaN, and p-AlGaN may be respectively used to form an n-type semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a p-type semiconductor layer of the light emitting device.
An aluminum nitride (AlN) buffer layer is formed on a substrate in order to form an n-AlGaN layer. However, due to tensile stress caused by a difference in the lattice constants between the AlGaN layer and the AlN buffer layer, cracks may be formed in the AlGaN layer. More cracks may be formed when silicon, which is an n-type impurity, is doped in the AlGaN layer and a doping density thereof increases.
Provided are ultraviolet light emitting devices in which a doping density of silicon increases sequentially in order to suppress the formation of cracks in an n-type aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) layer.
Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the presented embodiments.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an n-type aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) thin film on an aluminum nitride (AlN) buffer layer, wherein a silicon doping density of the n-type AlGaN layer increases with respect to an increasing vertical position of the n-type AlGaN layer with reference to the AlN buffer layer.
The n-type AlGaN layer may have a thickness of about 2 μm to about 4 μm.
The silicon doping density of the n-AlGaN layer may gradually increase from a first doping density, to a second doping density, which is higher than the first doping density.
The n-type AlGaN layer may comprise a first layer that is disposed directly on the AlN buffer layer and has a first doping density, a second layer that is disposed on the first layer and has a silicon doping density that increases gradually from the first doping density to a second doping density, and a third layer that is disposed on the second layer and has the second doping density.
The n-type AlGaN layer may comprise at least four stacked layers, a lowermost layer formed directly on the AlN buffer layer having a first doping density, and an uppermost layer having a second density which is higher than the first silicon doping density, and silicon doping densities of layers between the lowermost and uppermost layers sequentially increase between the first doping density and the second doping density.
The first doping density may be substantially equal to 5×1018 atoms/cm3, and the second doping density may be substantially equal to 5×1019 atoms/cm3.
According to another aspect, an ultraviolet light emitting device includes: an aluminum nitride (AlN) buffer layer disposed on a substrate; and an n-type AlGaN layer, an active layer, a p-type AlGaN layer that are sequentially stacked on the AlN buffer layer, wherein a silicon doping density of the n-type AlGaN layer increases with respect to an increasing vertical position of the n-type AlGaN layer with reference to the AlN buffer layer.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a light emitting device comprises an aluminum nitride (AlN) buffer layer disposed on a substrate; and in sequential stacked order from the AlN buffer layer an n-type AlGaN multilayer, an active layer, and a p-type AlGaN layer. The silicon doping density of each layer of said n-type AlGaN multilayer increases with distance from said AlN buffer layer.
In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth by way of examples in order to provide a thorough understanding of the relevant teachings. However, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present teachings may be practiced without such details. In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components, and/or circuitry have been described at a relatively high-level, without detail, in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring aspects of the present teachings.
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. In this regard, the present embodiments may have different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the descriptions set forth herein. Accordingly, the embodiments are merely described below, by referring to the figures, to explain aspects of the present description. The sizes or thicknesses of elements may be exaggerated for clarity of description. It will also be understood that when a layer is referred to as being “on” another layer or substrate, it can be directly on the other layer, or intervening layers may also be present.
Referring to
A light emitting device may generate light of different wavelengths according to the types and materials of respective layers of the light emitting device. In order to allow deep ultraviolet light (DUV) having a wavelength of about 100 nm to about 350 nm, particularly, from about 100 nm to about 290 nm, to be emitted from the active layer 140, the n-type semiconductor layer 130 and the p-type semiconductor layer 150 may be formed of AlGaN compound semiconductors. That is, the n-type semiconductor layer 130 includes an n-type AlGaN layer, and the p-type semiconductor layer 150 includes a p-type AlGaN layer, and the active layer 140 may include an undoped AlGaN layer.
The substrate 110 may be a substrate for monocrystalline semiconductor growth, and may be formed of, for example, sapphire.
The buffer layer 120 is a layer for minimizing a lattice difference in between the substrate 110, for example, a sapphire substrate, and the n-type semiconductor layer 130 to be formed on the substrate 110. The buffer layer 120 may be formed of AlN.
In order that ultraviolet rays are generated from the active layer 140, the n-type semiconductor layer 130 may be formed by doping a semiconductor material including AlGaN, with an n-type impurity. The n-type impurity may be a Group IV element, for example, silicon (Si). The n-type semiconductor layer 130 may be formed by using, for example, a metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method, a hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) method, or a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) method. The n-type semiconductor layer 130 may have a thickness of about 2 μm to about 4 μm.
An n-type electrode 172 is formed on the n-type semiconductor layer 130 to supply power thereto.
In order that ultraviolet rays are generated from the active layer 140, the p-type semiconductor layer 150 may be formed by doping a semiconductor material including AlGaN with a p-type impurity. The p-type impurity may be a Group II element, for example, Mg, Zn, or Be. The p-type semiconductor layer 150 may be formed by using, for example, a MOCVD method, a HVPE method, or a MBE method.
A p-contact layer 160 may be further formed on the p-type semiconductor layer 150. The p-contact layer 160 may be formed of p-GaN. The p-AlGaN layer 150 has greater activation energy than GaN not including Al. Accordingly, even when p-type impurities are implanted into AlGaN, a doping density thereof is lower than that of GaN. The doping density of the p-type semiconductor layer 150 decreases with the Al content. Accordingly, the p-contact layer 160 may be disposed between the p-type semiconductor layer 150 and a p-type electrode 171.
The p-type electrode 171 is formed on the p-contact layer 160 to supply power thereto.
The active layer 140 emits light having a predetermined energy by recombination of electrons and holes that are respectively injected from the n-type electrode 172 and the p-type electrode 171. The active layer 140 may have a structure in which a quantum well layer and a quantum barrier layer are alternately stacked at least once. The quantum well layer may have a single quantum well structure or a multi-quantum well structure.
The n-AlGaN layer 130 may be doped with Si. When the n-AlGaN layer 130 is simply grown on the AlN buffer layer 120, due to a lattice constant difference between the AlN buffer layer 120 and the n-AlGaN layer 130, cracks may be formed in the n-AlGaN layer 130. In particular, when a doping density of Si increases, more cracks may be formed.
The n-AlGaN layer 130 may have a Si doping density that is not uniform but varies at a predetermined rate.
Referring to
The first density is not limited to 5×1018 atoms/cm3, and may be of the order of 1018 atoms/cm3. The second density is not limited to 5×1019 atoms/cm3, and may be of the order of 1019 atoms/cm3.
Electrons are injected from the n-type electrode 172 to the n-AlGaN layer 130 mainly on the n-AlGaN layer 130 in areas where the doping density of the n-AlGaN layer 130 is high, as shown by an electron injection path denoted by an arrow A in
Referring to
The second layer 132 has a Si doping density that sequentially increases from 5×1018 atoms/cm3 to 5×1019 atoms/cm3 from the first layer 131. Referring to
The third layer 133 is an n-AlGaN layer having a silicon doping density of 5×1019 atoms/cm3. Referring to
Meanwhile, electrons are injected from the n-type electrode 172 to the n-AlGaN layer 130 mainly in the third layer 133 of the n-AlGaN layer 130 which is a highly doped area, as shown by the arrow A of
Referring to
In addition, electrons are injected from the n-type electrode 172 to the n-AlGaN layer 130 mainly on the n-AlGaN layer 130 in a highly doped area of the n-AlGaN layer 130. Thus, electrons may be easily injected.
According to an n-type AlGaN thin film in a ultraviolet light emitting device according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, as an impurity density in the n-type AlGaN thin film sequentially increases from a buffer layer, formation of cracks due to high-density impurities may be reduced.
While the foregoing has described what are considered to be the best mode and/or other examples, it is understood that various modifications may be made therein and that the subject matter disclosed herein may be implemented in various forms and examples, and that the teachings may be applied in numerous applications, only some of which have been described herein. It is intended by the following claims to claim any and all applications, modifications and variations that fall within the true scope of the present teachings.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2012-0053152 | May 2012 | KR | national |