AlGaN-based ultraviolet light-emitting diodes grown on bulk AlN substrates

Abstract

We have confirmed the potential of a bulk AlN substrate for high current operation of nitride ultraviolet-light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs). For the high flux UV extraction from nitride UV-LEDs, transparency and high thermal conductivity of the substrates are important issues. The bulk AlN is one of the best candidates, because it satisfies requirements above, and has the same crytallographic symmetry with those of AlGa(In)N families, which is beneficial to the high-quality crystal growth of the nitride device structures. We formed AlGaN-based UV-LEDs on a bulk AlN substrate and compared its performance with that of a reference device grown on an AlN-template grown on a sapphire substrate. The output power linearly increases with a saturation injection current of 300 mA, which is two times higher than that of the reference device. The emission spectrum under high current injection is much more stable than that of conventional substrate.