Two different template structures of dot air-bridges and nanorods were used for 300 µm GaN growth by hydride vapor
phase epitaxy (HVPE). The selective growth of arrays of dot air-bridges and nanorods whose sidewalls coated with SiO2
are identified and exploited to form a compliant layer to decouple the impact due to the different thermal expansion and
lattice mismatch between 300 µm overgrown GaN layer and the host sapphire substrate. As the process temperature
cooling down from 1050 °C to room temperature in HVPE system, the 300 μm freestanding GaN substrates were
obtained by the self-separation. The dislocation density was estimated by both the etching pit density method and
cathodoluminescence (CL). The dislocation densities of the freestanding bulk GaN were lower than 5×106 and 5×107 cm-2 for the template structure of dot air-bridges and nanorods structure, respectively.
As one of the most mature techniques for manufacturing free-standing GaN substrates, hydride vapor phase epitaxy
(HVPE) always encounters problems associated with residue thermal stress, such as GaN bending and cracking during
and after growth. This work presents a patterning approach and a non-patterning approach to reduce stress in thick GaN
films grown on sapphires by HVPE. The patterning approach, forming dot air-bridged structures, adopted standard
photolithography to fabricate hexagonally aligned patterns of dots on GaN templates. Following HVPE growth, regular
voids were formed and buried in the GaN thick-films. These voids helped to relax the stress in the GaN thick-films. In
the non-patterning approach, thick GaN films were simply grown at a specially set sequence of ramping temperatures
during HVPE growth without any patterned structure. This temperature-ramping technique, gives crack-free high-quality
2"-diameter GaN films, thicker than 250 μm, on sapphires in high yields. These thick GaN films can be separated from
sapphire using conventional laser-induced lift-off processes, which can be followed by subsequent HVPE regrowths. A
600 μm-thick free-standing GaN films has a typical dislocation density of around 4×106 cm-2 with a full width at half
maximum (FWHM) in the high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) spectrum of GaN (002) of around 150 arcsec.
The residual stress in the thick GaN films was analyzed by micro-Raman spectroscopy. The effectiveness of the
patterning and the non-patterning techniques in reducing the strain in GaN films is discussed. The advantages and
weaknesses of the patterning and the non-patterning techniques will be elucidated.
In this research, experiments and optical simulations are carried out to study the effect of beveled sidewalls and geometric shapes on the light extraction efficiency of a GaN light-emitting diode (LED) with sapphire substrate. In addition to the conventional rectangular chips, hexagonal chips are experimentally processed for the first time on a novel island-like GaN substrate, on which the beveled sidewalls are naturally formed at each island during GaN epitaxial growth on a sapphire original substrate by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) technology. The results from our simulations and experiments show that the output power of a LED with beveled sidewalls is about two times that of a normal LED, and those from hexagonal chips are always better than those from conventional rectangular chips.
In this research, experiments and optical simulations have been carried out to study the effect of bevelled sidewalls and geometric shapes on the light extraction efficiency of GaN LED chips. Besides the conventional rectangular chips, hexagonal LED chips were experimentally processed for the fist time on a novel island-like GaN substrate. The bevelled sidewalls could be naturally formed on the chips during the growth of GaN islands by HVPE technology. The results of simulations and experiments are consistent with each other, and show that the output power of LED will be improved doubly when the sidewalls were beveled on the chip. The light output from hexagonal LED chips is also proved better than that from conventional rectangular chips.
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