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Review

A Review on the Progress of AlGaN Tunnel Homojunction Deep-Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes

1
Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd., 710 Shimomiyakeoriguchi, Heiwa-cho, Inazawa, Nagoya 290-1312, Japan
2
Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
3
Toyota Central R&D Labs. Inc., Nagakute 480-1192, Japan
4
Advanced Technology Research Laboratories, Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., 1280 Kamiizumi, Sodegaura 299-0205, Japan
5
Center for Integrated Research of Future Electronics, Institute of Materials and Systems for Sustainability, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
6
Faculty of Science and Technology, Meijo University, 1-501 Shiogamaguchi, Tenpaku-ku, Nagoya 468-8502, Japan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Crystals 2023, 13(3), 524; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst13030524
Submission received: 17 February 2023 / Revised: 10 March 2023 / Accepted: 15 March 2023 / Published: 19 March 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue III-Nitride-Based Light-Emitting Devices)

Abstract

:
Conventional deep-ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on AlGaN crystals have extremely low light-emission efficiencies due to the absorption in p-type GaN anode contacts. UV-light-transparent anode structures are considered as one of the solutions to increase a light output power. To this end, the present study focuses on developing a transparent AlGaN homoepitaxial tunnel junction (TJ) as the anode of a deep-UV LED. Deep-UV LEDs composed of n+/p+-type AlGaN TJs were fabricated under the growth condition that reduced the carrier compensation in the n+-type AlGaN layers. The developed deep-UV LED achieved an operating voltage of 10.8 V under a direct current (DC) operation of 63 A cm−2, which is one of the lowest values among devices composed of AlGaN tunnel homojunctions. In addition, magnesium zinc oxide (MgZnO)/Al reflective electrodes were fabricated to enhance the output power of the AlGaN homoepitaxial TJ LED. The output power was increased to 57.3 mW under a 63 A cm−2 DC operation, which was 1.7 times higher than that achieved using the conventional Ti/Al electrodes. The combination of the AlGaN-based TJ and MgZnO/Al reflective contact allows further improvement of the light output power. This study confirms that the AlGaN TJ is a promising UV-transmittance structure that can achieve a high light-extraction efficiency.

1. Introduction

Aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN)-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) emit deep-ultraviolet (UV) light and are used in several applications at different wavelengths such as curing, sensing, and sterilizing water and air. These LEDs are considered replacements for the mercury lamps used in water and air sterilizations [1,2,3]. Deep-UV light with an emission wavelength below 290 nm can rapidly inactivate the deoxyribonucleic acid of viruses and bacteria [4,5]. However, the light-emission efficiency (LEE) of deep-UV LEDs is considerably lower than that of low-pressure mercury lamps. The wall-plug efficiency of mass-produced deep-UV LEDs is a maximum of 10% because of the UV light absorption of the p-type gallium nitride (GaN) contact layer [6,7,8]. A p-type GaN contact layer is used in mass-produced deep-UV LEDs because a higher Al composition p-type AlGaN can lead to a higher ionization energy of magnesium (Mg) acceptors and a lower hole concentration [9,10,11,12,13,14]. Deep-UV LEDs with p-type AlGaN contact layers exhibited external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of 10–20% when rhodium (Rh) electrodes, patterned sapphire substrates, and resin encapsulations were used [15,16]. However, the wall-plug efficiencies (WPEs) of these deep-UV LEDs were not still high because of the increased contact resistivities between the electrodes and p-type AlGaN contact layers. By contrast, suitable electrode materials such as vanadium are available for n-type AlGaN-based cathode contacts [17,18,19].
One solution to this problem is to form a tunnel junction (TJ) for the anode contact of a deep-UV LED, because an n-type electrode with a low contact resistance is available. Table 1 lists previously reported LEDs having TJ-based anode contacts [20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31]. Some issues are faced in realizing a TJ-LED with a high-Al composition. The first issue is the difficulty of dehydrogenation from the buried p-type III-nitride layers. When using metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) growth that is suitable for manufacturing LEDs, Mg acceptors are passivated by the hydrogen atoms in the growth ambient, resulting in a high resistivity [32,33]. Then, hydrogen atoms mostly locate at interstitial sites in III-nitrides [14]. An interstitial hydrogen atom is predicted to be charged positively and to be mobile in the p-type layer, whereas it would have a negative charge and be less mobile in the n-type layer [34]. Dehydrogenation from the p-type GaN layer buried under the n-type GaN has been reported to be difficult [35]. To avoid this problem, TJ layers were grown in the hydrogen-free ambient by methods such as plasma-enhanced molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE) [20,22,26,27,28,29,30] as it results in a lower differential specific resistivity (Rs) compared with that in the case of conventional MOVPE growth [21,23,24,25,31]. Recently, Akasaka et al. demonstrated the low resistivity of the n+-type GaN/p+-type GaN TJ using MOVPE growth by optimizing the doping profile and growth condition [25]; this should contribute toward the manufacture of GaN-based TJ contacts.
The second issue is the fact that the formation of highly conductive TJs is more challenging for AlGaN-based TJs than for GaN-based ones, as seen from Table 1. This is caused by the increased tunneling barrier when the Al content increases. Deep-UV LEDs with AlGaN-TJ anode contacts reportedly enhanced the LEE; specifically, the LEE was high, and the operation voltages remained high in the range of 13–50 V [30,31]. To enhance the conductivity of the anode contact, Zhang et al. reported TJ double-heterostructures comprising n+-AlGaN/(Ga)InN/p+-AlGaN, in which the polarization charges reduced the TJ thickness [26,27,28]. The integration with the polarization doping technique using a graded AlGaN TJ layer was also effective in attracting high density free holes, resulting in enhanced tunneling probability [26].
A simpler way to increase the tunneling probability is to increase the doping concentration of tunneling homojunction layers. However, the resistivities of high-Al-content n-type AlGaN layers with high Si-doping concentrations (>6 × 1019 cm−3) were found to be extremely high because of the self-compensation caused by cation–vacancy–silicon (VIII–nSi) complexes [32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41]. Further, carbon atoms were reported to cause carrier compensation by substituting nitrogen sites (CN) and to reduce the conductivities of n-type GaN layers [42,43,44,45]. The similar carrier compensation via CN was predicted for an AlN-based material [46]. The growth condition of the high-Si-doped n+-type AlGaN needs to be controlled to suppress the carrier compensation defects and reducing the operating voltage of AlGaN TJ LEDs.
The design of the electrode structure for light extraction from the backside is also important for deep-UV LEDs [47,48]. The output power can be enhanced using a highly reflective electrode on the top. In visible-light LEDs, highly reflective metals combined with UV-transparent and conductive oxide electrodes are widely used to improve the LEE [49,50]. Examples of such oxide elements include indium tin oxide [51,52], indium-doped zinc oxide [53,54,55], aluminum-doped zinc oxide [56,57,58], and gallium-doped zinc oxide [59,60]. High reflective electrodes can be produced by stacking Al metals or a distributed Bragg reflector on these oxide electrodes, resulting in a reflectivity of 80–90% [49,50]. Visible-light LEDs with high LEE can also be obtained by applying these reflective structures. However, these oxide materials have an absorption deep-UV region owing to bandgap energies of 3.34–4.3 eV. In a conductive oxide electrode onto an organic semiconductor, severe damage to the oxide electrode was reported [61,62,63,64]. In the formation of oxide electrodes, it is also important to control the interface between the semiconductor and the oxide electrode. We focus on high-Al composition AlGaN TJ LEDs and magnesium zinc oxide (MgZnO)/Al reflective electrode. MgZnO is suitable for suppressing the UV light absorption, and its bandgap can be controlled in the range of 3.34 to 7.8 eV by controlling the Mg/Zn composition [65,66]. A previous study reported that the MgZnO formed by sputtering had two crystalline structures after recrystallization by annealing; both structures exhibited high transmittance in the UV range and n-type conductivity [67]. The conductivity was improved due to the mixture of both the wurtzite structure MgZnO (wz-MgZnO) and rock salt structure (rs-MgZnO), or the oxygen vacancies in wz-MgZnO. The resistivity and transmittance of MgZnO were 1.1 × 10−1 Ωcm and 20%, respectively [67]. There have been reports of improving the LEE of UV-A LEDs using MgZnO [68,69], but there have been no reports of UV-C LEDs.
In this study, we review the key challenges faced in deep-UV LEDs with AlGaN-based TJ anode contacts. We simply investigated AlGaN-based tunnel homojunction to improve the tunneling probability by controlling doping conditions. We originally suggest that the growth conditions of the n+-type AlGaN of TJ are controlled such that carbon incorporation can be suppressed at high Si doping to reduce the operating voltage of the AlGaN TJ LEDs. The other original point is to apply deep-UV light transparent anode electrodes using MgZnO/Al, which results in enhancing the LEE of deep-UV LEDs. The combination of these technologies demonstrates the one of the lowest operation voltages of 10.8 V and the highest output power of 57.3 mW among the AlGaN TJ deep-UV LEDs.

2. Materials and Methods

Deep-UV LEDs were grown using a metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy on c-plane sapphire substrates with a miscut angle of 0.35° toward the sapphire [11 2 0] direction. Trimethylaluminium, trimethylgallium, triethylgallium, Bis(cyclopentadienyl)magnesium, monosilane gas, and ammonia gases were used as sources of Al, Ga, Mg, Si, and N under hydrogen gas, respectively. The sapphire substrates were thermally cleaned in the H2 ambient, and then a 3-μm-thick AlN layer was grown using a two-step growth technique [70]. Threading dislocation densities of screw and edge dislocations, including mixed components, in the AlN underlayer were estimated using an X-ray rocking curve at 9 × 107 cm−2 and 1 × 109 cm−2, respectively [71]. The 1.3-μm-thick n-type Al0.62Ga0.38N, doped with a Si concentration of 3 × 1019 cm−3, was grown on an AlN template [40,41]. Multiple-quantum wells, an Al0.85Ga0.15N electron blocking layer (EBL), a p-type AlGaN, and a p+-type AlGaN were grown on the n-type AlGaN underlayer. The p+-type AlGaN was doped with Mg at a concentration of 1.7 × 1020 cm−3. Subsequently, n+-type and n-type AlGaN were grown under the same conditions as the n-type AlGaN underlayer, as indicated in Figure 1b. The mesa was formed by dry etching using HCl gas. Thereafter, we formed 20/150/50/100/240-nm-thick V/Al/Ti/Pt/Au electrodes as both n-type AlGaN electrodes. They were simultaneously annealed under a nitrogen (N2) ambient at 720 °C for 30 s. The annealing process contributes to Mg activation under lateral hydrogen diffusion from the exposed mesa-parts of the p-type layers [30,31,72,73,74]. For comparison, we prepared a conventional pn-diode-based LED with a thin p-type GaN contact layer grown on a p-type AlGaN shown in Figure 1a. We adopted indium zinc oxide (IZO) for the anode. The emitted UV light was fully absorbed at the IZO electrode. The LED and anode sizes and the thickness of the sapphire substrate were 1 mm2, 0.56 mm2, and 200 μm, respectively. The light output power was measured using an integrating sphere. For the former, we prepared an AlGaN homoepitaxial TJ LED (TJ#1 to TJ#5) with various Si concentrations and C incorporations in the n+-type AlGaN layer, as summarized in Table 2 [75]. The carbon concentration was approximately 3.0 × 1018 cm−3 (TJ#1 and TJ#2), and it was reduced to 6.5 × 1017 cm−3 (TJ#3 to TJ#5) by changing the growth pressure from 50 mbar to 100 mbar. In the case of the latter, we prepared MgZnO/Al electrodes for the TJ LED with TJ#5. We deposited a 50-nm-thick MgZnO electrode by QAM4 RF magnetron sputtering by ULVAC at a substrate temperature of 200 °C, and a typical lift-off process was employed. The sputtering target for MgZnO was prepared as a 2-inch MgZnO sintered material of purity 4N by Shonan Electron Material Laboratory, which has the MgO:ZnO mixing atomic ratio of 1:2. The RF power, sputtering gas, and gas pressure were 100 W, Ar, and approximately 3.4–3.5 × 10−1 Pa, respectively. After forming the MgZnO electrode, the conductivity was improved by annealing it at 850 °C for 5 min under an N2 ambient. For the cathode, Ti/Al electrodes were deposited using the electron beam (EB) method and were alloyed at 450 °C under an N2 ambient. Al/Ti/Pt/Au electrodes, with a thickness of 300/50/100/240 nm, were formed on the MgZnO electrode via the EB method to obtain a highly reflective electrode. The reflectance of the electrodes for TJ LEDs was measured using a UV-2700 UV-visible spectrophotometer (UV-VIS) from Shimizu Corporation. For comparison, Ti/Al electrodes for the TJ LED anode were prepared using the same process as the cathode. A cross-sectional image and Mg and Zn distribution images for MgZnO on n-type AlGaN were observed using a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM).

3. Results and Discussions

3.1. AlGaN Homoepitaxial Tunnel-Junction Deep-UV LEDs with n-Type AlGaN Based on Suppressed Complex Defect Formation

Forward voltage–current density characteristics for samples PN#1, TJ#1, TJ#2, TJ#3, and TJ#4 are presented in Figure 2 and were measured by direct current (DC) operation at 300 K. The forward voltage (6.6 V) of the conventional PN LED (PN#1) was provided at 63 Acm−2. The characteristics were similar to those reported previously [16,76,77]. The forward voltage of the TJ LEDs (TJ#1 and TJ#2) was extremely high and operated at approximately 16 V at 4 Acm−2. These TJ LEDs could not provide sufficient current injection; however, a slightly decreasing forward voltage trend was observed for TJ#2 relative to TJ#1. The forward voltages of TJ#3 and TJ#4 were 12.1 V and 10.3 V at 63 Acm−2, respectively, which was significantly reduced by more than 6 V compared to TJ#1 and TJ#2. The high-doping Si concentration of the n+-type AlGaN was effective in reducing the forward voltage of the AlGaN TJ LEDs. Further, suppressing the C incorporation was more effective than the high Si-doping concentration of the n+-type AlGaN in reducing the forward voltage. The operating voltage of AlGaN TJ LEDs could be reduced because the carrier concentration of n+-type Al0.6Ga0.4N was increased by suppressing the C incorporation. The electrical characteristics of the n-type AlGaN at 300 K under the van der–Pauw Hall effect were measured. The carrier concentration and resistivity of the n+-type Al0.6Ga0.4N with a Si concentration of 1.2 × 1020 cm−3 based on TJ#2 were extremely low (<1.0 × 1016 cm−3) and semi-insulating because of the compensation by CN, as shown in Figure 3a and ref. [68]. Those at a Si concentration of 1.2 × 1020 cm−3 based on TJ#4 were 3.5 × 1016 cm−3 and 23 Ωcm, respectively, because of the suppression of C incorporation in the n+-type AlGaN. This improvement contributed to the reduction in the forward voltage for TJ#4 compared to TJ#2.
The difference in the forward voltages between TJ#3 and TJ#4 suggests that the Si overdose above 6 × 1019 cm−3 is effective in improving TJ despite the reduction in the carrier concentration with an increase of Si concentration, as shown in Figure 3b. The reduction of the carrier concentration can be attributed to the self-compensation of VIII–nSi complexes [32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41]. However, the depletion layer width was found to be reduced to approximately 10 nm for the Si doping concentration of 1.2 × 1020 cm−3 [78]. Therefore, the Si overdose can contribute to a reduction in the depletion layer width, which results in an increase in the tunneling probability. Another possibility is trap-assisted tunneling through defects formed by the Si overdose, although further investigation is required. Therefore, we concluded that both the C reduction and high Si doping are key factors in reducing the forward voltage of AlGaN-based TJs.
The present TJ structure has a very thick TJ layer compared to the depletion layer width of approximately 10 nm shown in Figure 1b, and this can be a cause of the excess series resistance of the n+-type AlGaN layer. To further reduce the operation voltage to 8.8 V at a DC current of 63 Acm−2, we optimized the TJ thickness [79].

3.2. Sputtered Polycrystalline MgZnO/Al Reflective Electrodes for Enhanced Light Emission in AlGaN-Based Homoepitaxial Tunnel Junction DUV-LED

We evaluated MgZnO/Al reflective electrodes for an Al0.6Ga0.4N TJ LED (TJ#5) to enhance the LEE. The TJ LED of TJ#5 was grown under optimized condition similar to those of TJ#4. These forward voltages were slightly increased by approximately 0.6 V when the Al composition of the p-type AlGaN increased from 50% (TJ#4) to 60% (TJ#5). The characteristics of PN LED#2 were an output power of 35.7 mW, an operating voltage of 7.2 V, an emission wavelength of 285 nm, and an EQE of 2.3% at a DC current of 63 A cm−2.
The current density–forward voltage characteristics of the AlGaN TJ LEDs using conventional Ti/Al and MgZnO electrodes are illustrated in Figure 4a. The forward voltages of the AlGaN TJ LEDs using Ti/Al and MgZnO/Al electrodes were 10.8 V and 10.3 V, respectively, at a DC operation of 63 Acm−2. The forward voltage offset of approximately 1 V was observed for the AlGaN TJ LED using MgZnO/Al electrodes compared with that using the Ti/Al electrodes at a current density of 30–60 Acm−2. In addition, the forward voltages of the TJ LEDs using both Ti/Al and MgZnO/Al electrodes are comparable at a current density above 30 Acm−2. Therefore, we realized carrier injection into the TJ LED using MgZnO/Al electrodes. For more details, the contact resistivity and band alignment of the interface between the MgZnO electrode and n-type AlGaN contact layer are reported in ref [80].
Figure 4b shows the current density–emission power characteristics and emission wavelength spectra of the AlGaN TJ LEDs. The emission wavelength is 284 nm at a DC operation of 63 Acm−2. The output powers of the AlGaN TJ LED with the Ti/Al electrodes and the conventional LED for reference were almost identical from ref. [75,80]. The output powers of the AlGaN TJ LEDs with conventional Ti/Al electrodes and MgZnO/Al electrodes are 32.8 and 57.3 mW, respectively, at a DC operation of 63 Acm−2. The output power of the TJ LED using MgZnO/Al electrodes is enhanced to approximately 1.7 times using the Ti/Al electrodes. The external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of the TJ LED using the Ti/Al electrodes and MgZnO/Al electrodes are 2.15% and 3.75%, respectively, at a DC operation of 63 Acm−2, as shown in Figure 4c. The highest output power is realized for AlGaN TJ LEDs. A maximum EQE of 3.78% is achieved for the AlGaN TJ LED using MgZnO/Al electrodes. The reflectance at an emission wavelength of 284 nm for the TJ LED with the Ti/Al electrodes and MgZnO/Al electrodes was 9.5% and 20.2%, respectively. The Ti/Al electrodes exhibited low reflectivity because of the alloyed metal. In addition, the MgZnO/Al electrodes exhibited high reflectivity because of the nonalloyed Al separated from the cathode annealing process. Therefore, it contributed to the high reflectance of the TJ LED with MgZnO/Al electrodes.
The mixture of different compositions was used to form the MgZnO layer on the n-type AlGaN, as shown in Figure 5 and Table 3. The crystal structures of MgZnO were expected to consist of a mixture of both wurtzite and rock salt structures [67]. The surface of n-type AlGaN was roughened through dry etching, as shown in Figure 5. The low contact resistances of n-type AlGaN can be obtained through plasma etching treatments [81,82]. Therefore, the low contact resistance is possibly formed due to the rough surface of n-type AlGaN, although the mechanism is not clear.
Figure 6a shows the absorption coefficient spectrum of only the n-type Al0.6Ga0.4N template and MgZnO (50 nm) on the n-type Al0.6Ga0.4N template. The absorption coefficients of both increased near 4.8 eV. The absorption coefficient of MgZnO on the n-type Al0.6Ga0.4N template increased near 4.0 eV. The band gap of wz-MgZnO is reported to be approximately 3.34–4.0 eV, which depends on the Mg composition [58]. The UV light absorption near 4.0 eV is attributed to wz-MgZnO. Figure 6b shows the thickness dependence of the transmittance of MgZnO based on the calculation from its absorption coefficient α = 1.6 × 105 cm−1 at the emission wavelength of 284 nm in the fabricated TJ LED. The transmittance of the MgZnO at a thickness of 50 nm is approximately 40%. We estimate a transmittance of more than 80% by reducing the MgZnO thickness to less than 10 nm to enhance the output power of AlGaN LEDs. For example, the reflectance of the MgZnO/Al (10/300 nm) can be improved to approximately 40%, which is three times higher than that of MgZnO (50/300 nm) in this work. However, the MgZnO still has the critical issue of a high absorption coefficient in order to further improve the LEE. It should be controlled by bifurcating the crystal structures with both wurtzite and rock salt structures for polycrystalline MgZnO [65,66,67]. Furthermore, the TJ LED structure can be optimized by utilizing optical cavity effects for improving LEE with other enhancement approaches [83,84]. The thickness of the n-type AlGaN in contact with the AlGaN TJ should be optimized in the near future to realize a higher output power.

4. Conclusions

We have achieved an improvement in the performance of high-Al-composition AlGaN TJ deep-UV LEDs by controlling the growth of n-type AlGaN and polycrystalline MgZnO/Al electrodes. Two essential factors were considered to reduce the operating voltage of AlGaN TJ LEDs by changing the growth conditions: suppression of C incorporation and doping of n+-type AlGaN with a high Si concentration. The AlGaN TJ LED was operated at a voltage of 10.8 V at a DC operation of 63 Acm−2. Highly reflective MgZnO/Al electrodes were fabricated as anodes for AlGaN TJ LEDs to enhance the output power of the AlGaN TJ LEDs. The TJ LED using MgZnO/Al electrodes achieved an output power of 57.3 mW at an emission wavelength of 284 nm under a DC operation of 63 Acm−2, which was 1.7 times higher than that achieved using a conventional Ti/Al electrode. In the near future, further improvements in output power can be achieved by reducing the thickness of the MgZnO layer in AlGaN TJ LEDs.

Author Contributions

K.N. and T.M.: writing—original draft preparation, K.N., Y.S., K.K., T.N., K.H., M.K., S.T., S.K., Y.H., T.T. and H.A.; writing-review and editing, supervision, H.A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the MOE Program for the implementation of the innovative infection control and digital technologies with low CO2 emission.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Figure 1. Deep-UV LED structures for (a) PN junction and (b) TJ devices.
Figure 1. Deep-UV LED structures for (a) PN junction and (b) TJ devices.
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Figure 2. Forward voltage–current density characteristics measured by DC operation at room temperature for samples PN#1, TJ#1, TJ#2, TJ#3, and TJ#4. Copyright 2021 The Japan Society of Applied Physics [75].
Figure 2. Forward voltage–current density characteristics measured by DC operation at room temperature for samples PN#1, TJ#1, TJ#2, TJ#3, and TJ#4. Copyright 2021 The Japan Society of Applied Physics [75].
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Figure 3. Si concentration dependence of (a) resistivity, (b) carrier concentration, and (c) mobility of n-type Al0.62Ga0.38N. The red square () and black circle (●) represent the values of C concentrations of 1.8 × 1018 cm−3 and 6.5 × 1017 cm−3, as grown under pressures 50 mbar and 100 mbar, respectively.
Figure 3. Si concentration dependence of (a) resistivity, (b) carrier concentration, and (c) mobility of n-type Al0.62Ga0.38N. The red square () and black circle (●) represent the values of C concentrations of 1.8 × 1018 cm−3 and 6.5 × 1017 cm−3, as grown under pressures 50 mbar and 100 mbar, respectively.
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Figure 4. (a) Current density–forward voltage, (b) emission power–current density, and (c) EQE–current density characteristics of the fabricated TJ LEDs. Copyright 2022 The Japan Society of Applied Physics [80].
Figure 4. (a) Current density–forward voltage, (b) emission power–current density, and (c) EQE–current density characteristics of the fabricated TJ LEDs. Copyright 2022 The Japan Society of Applied Physics [80].
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Figure 5. (a) High resolution STEM image, (b) Mg composition distribution image, (c) Zn composition distribution image of MgZnO on n-type AlGaN.
Figure 5. (a) High resolution STEM image, (b) Mg composition distribution image, (c) Zn composition distribution image of MgZnO on n-type AlGaN.
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Figure 6. (a) Comparison of the absorption coefficient spectra of the n-type Al0.6Ga0.4N template and MgZnO deposited on the n-type Al0.6Ga0.4N. (b) Thickness dependence of the transmittance of MgZnO calculated from the absorption coefficient (α = 1.6 × 105 cm−1) at a photon energy of 4.3 eV. Copyright 2022 The Japan Society of Applied Physics [80].
Figure 6. (a) Comparison of the absorption coefficient spectra of the n-type Al0.6Ga0.4N template and MgZnO deposited on the n-type Al0.6Ga0.4N. (b) Thickness dependence of the transmittance of MgZnO calculated from the absorption coefficient (α = 1.6 × 105 cm−1) at a photon energy of 4.3 eV. Copyright 2022 The Japan Society of Applied Physics [80].
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Table 1. Summary of the III-nitride TJs reported previously, where VF is a forward operation voltage and Rs is a differential specific resistivity.
Table 1. Summary of the III-nitride TJs reported previously, where VF is a forward operation voltage and Rs is a differential specific resistivity.
Ref.TJ StructureGrowth MethodVF (V)Rs (Ωcm2)
[20]n+-GaN/GaInN/p+-GaNPAMBE3.05 @100 Acm−21.2 × 10−4
[21]n+-GaN/p+-Ga0.6In0.4NMOVPE 4.0 × 10−3
[22]n+-GaN/p+-GaNMOVPE + NH3 - MBE~5 @100 Acm−22.3 × 10−4
[23]n+-GaN/p+-GaNMOVPE5.92 @2 Acm−22.6 × 10−1
[24]n+-GaN/p+-GaN µ-LEDMOVPE~4 @20 Acm−22.5 × 10−5
[25]n+-GaN/p+-GaNMOVPE~4 @100 Acm−22.4 × 10−4
[26]n+-Al0.55Ga0.45N/ Ga0.8In0.2N
/p+-Al0.55Ga0.45N
PAMBE6.8 @10 Acm−21.5 × 10−3
[27]n+-AlGaN/ Ga0.8In0.2N
/graded p-AlGaN
PAMBE10.2 @10 Acm−2N/A
[28]graded n+-AlGaN
/ Ga0.8In0.2N/p+-Al0.65Ga0.35N
PAMBE10.5 @20 Acm−21.9 × 10−3
[29]n+-Al0.65Ga0.35N/GaN
/p+-Al0.65Ga0.35N
PAMBE~10 @100 Acm−2N/A
[30]n+-Al0.5Ga0.5N/GaN
/p+-Al0.5Ga0.5N
MOVPE + NH3 - MBE~9 @100 Acm−21.2 × 10−3
[30]n+-Al0.5Ga0.5N/p+-Al0.5Ga0.5NMOVPE + NH3 - MBE~11 @100 Acm−21.7 × 10−3
[31]n+-Al0.65Ga0.35N/n+-GaN
/p+-Al0.65Ga0.35N
MOVPE~20 (4–6) × 10−3
[31]n+-Al0.65Ga0.35N
/p+-Al0.65Ga0.35N
MOVPE~50N/A
Table 2. Summary of the evaluated parameters for all LEDs. PN and TJ indicate the PN junction and TJ LEDs, respectively. [Si] and [C] are directly measured for the samples TJ#1, TJ#3, and TJ#4, whereas [Si] and [C] in samples TJ#2 and TJ#5 (labeled by *) are estimated from the dates for TJ#1, TJ#3, and TJ#4. Copyright 2021 The Japan Society of Applied Physics [75].
Table 2. Summary of the evaluated parameters for all LEDs. PN and TJ indicate the PN junction and TJ LEDs, respectively. [Si] and [C] are directly measured for the samples TJ#1, TJ#3, and TJ#4, whereas [Si] and [C] in samples TJ#2 and TJ#5 (labeled by *) are estimated from the dates for TJ#1, TJ#3, and TJ#4. Copyright 2021 The Japan Society of Applied Physics [75].
Samplep-AlGaNp+-AlGaNn+-AlGaN
Al Composition[Si] (cm−3)[C] (cm−3)
PN#150%50%
#250%50%
TJ#150%50%6.3 × 10191.8 × 1018
#250%50%1.3 × 1020 *1.8 × 1018 *
#350%50%6.3 × 10193.1 × 1017
#450%50%1.3 × 10203.1 × 1017
#560%60%1.3 × 1020 *3.1 × 1017 *
Table 3. Summary of Mg and Al compositions for MgZnO on n-type AlGaN.
Table 3. Summary of Mg and Al compositions for MgZnO on n-type AlGaN.
Region NumberMg
(%)
Zn
(%)
11189
21783
37723
44258
Average4753
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Nagata, K.; Matsubara, T.; Saito, Y.; Kataoka, K.; Narita, T.; Horibuchi, K.; Kushimoto, M.; Tomai, S.; Katsumata, S.; Honda, Y.; et al. A Review on the Progress of AlGaN Tunnel Homojunction Deep-Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes. Crystals 2023, 13, 524. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst13030524

AMA Style

Nagata K, Matsubara T, Saito Y, Kataoka K, Narita T, Horibuchi K, Kushimoto M, Tomai S, Katsumata S, Honda Y, et al. A Review on the Progress of AlGaN Tunnel Homojunction Deep-Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes. Crystals. 2023; 13(3):524. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst13030524

Chicago/Turabian Style

Nagata, Kengo, Taichi Matsubara, Yoshiki Saito, Keita Kataoka, Tetsuo Narita, Kayo Horibuchi, Maki Kushimoto, Shigekazu Tomai, Satoshi Katsumata, Yoshio Honda, and et al. 2023. "A Review on the Progress of AlGaN Tunnel Homojunction Deep-Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes" Crystals 13, no. 3: 524. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst13030524

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