High-efficiency green laser diodes remain a challenge for researchers and manufacturers due to several factors intrinsic to the InAlGaN material system. Notably, the high indium content quantum wells (QW) are sensitive to thermal damage in the form of indium segregation, particularly when the QWs are exposed to the high-temperature growth steps of the ptype AlGaN cladding layers in MOCVD. This paper presents device results from blue distributed feedback (DFB) laser diodes grown entirely by MOCVD compared to material grown by MOCVD through the active region and overgrown with low-temperature p-AlGaN using remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD). Preliminary data demonstrate comparable performance from MOCVD-only and MOCVD with RPCVD p-cladding, showing a full-width at half maximum emission of 3 pm and side mode suppression ratio of 19 dB. RPCVD enables the growth of high-quality ptype AlGaN layers at temperatures below the thermal damage threshold of In-rich QWs, leading to longer wavelength devices. The degree of thermal damage to the In-rich green QWs is assessed using fluorescence microscopy to directly compare the RPCVD-enhanced p-AlGaN growths at various growth temperatures over all-MOCVD n-side and green quantum wells.
InAlGaN-based laser diodes (LDs) can be designed to emit across a wide range of wavelengths spanning UV to green. A common challenge across all wavelengths lies in the difficulty in producing low resistance p-type InAlGaN layers. For shorter wavelength devices, the requirement of high aluminium containing p-AlGaN leads to high device series resistance. For the longer wavelength devices approaching the green wavelengths, the thermal degradation of the indium-rich quantum wells during the growth of the p-GaN and p-AlGaN cladding layers reduces the device efficiency. In this paper we discuss how BluGlass’s remote plasma chemical vapour deposition (RPCVD) technology can address these challenges through improvements to intrinsic material properties as well as enabling novel design architectures.
The unique growth conditions of BluGlass’ low growth temperature technology Remote Plasma Chemical Vapour Deposition (RPCVD) are capable of producing Activate As-Grown (AAG) buried p-GaN layers. This ability renders RPCVD a highly attractive technique to produce GaN-based Tunnel Junctions (TJ) without the complexities associated with the post-growth lateral activation steps required by MOCVD. In this paper we discuss the use of hybrid RPCVD/MOCVD TJs for MOCVD-grown ridge guide laser diode (LD) applications. The impact of both the structure and placement of the TJ on the total optical loss of the LD are investigated. TJs conforming to the strict compositional requirements in order to yield a net reduction in optical loss are demonstrated, paving the way to improved conversion efficiencies through the replacement of the highly resistive p-AlGaN cladding layers and p-type Ohmic contacts with lower resistance n-AlGaN cladding layers and n-type Ohmic contacts.
The low growth temperature technology Remote Plasma Chemical Vapour Deposition (RPCVD) is currently being developed by BluGlass Ltd. for use in high-brightness LED applications. The unique growth conditions of RPCVD are demonstrated to produce Activated As-Grown (AAG) buried p-GaN for achieving GaN-based tunnel junctions (TJ) for use in current spreading and potential use in cascade LED and LD applications. Hybrid RPCVD/MOCVD TJs were grown on commercial full blue LEDs, and all-RPCVD TJs were grown on commercial partially completed blue LEDs and the devices were processed into 1.1 mm x 1.1mm chips. The LEDs with hybrid TJ displayed a 4.4% increase in light output power (LOP) and an increase in forward voltage (Vf) of 0.68 V compared to LEDs using indium-tin oxide (ITO) at a current density of 26 A/cm2 . The LEDs with all-RPCVD TJs displayed a 3.6% increase in LOP and an increase in Vf of 0.88 V at 26 A/cm2 .
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