Abnormal selective area growth of irregularly-shaped GaN structures on the apex of GaN pyramids and its application for wide spectral emission

Abstract

We report on the growth and the characterization of three-dimensional randomly-shaped InGaN/GaN structures selectively grown on the apex of GaN pyramids for the purpose of enlarging the emission spectral range. We found that the variations in the shape and the size of the three-dimensional GaN structures depend on the growth temperature and the surface area for selective growth under intentional turbulence in the gas stream. The selectively grown GaN structures grown at 1020 °C have irregular shape, while the samples grown at 1100 °C have rather uniform hexagonal pyramidal shapes. Irregularly shaped GaN structures were also obtained on the apex of GaN pyramids when the SiO₂ mask was removed to 1/10 of the total height of the underlying GaN pyramid. When only 1/5 of the SiO₂ mask was removed, however, the selectively grown GaN structures had similar hexagonal pyramidal shapes resembling those of the underlying GaN pyramids. The CL (Cathodoluminescence) spectra of the InGaN layers grown on the randomly shaped GaN structures showed a wide emission spectral range from 388 to 433 nm due to the non-uniform thickness and spatially inhomogeneous indium composition of the InGaN layers. This new selective growth method might have great potential for applications of non-phosphor white light emitting diodes (LEDs) with optimized growth conditions for InGaN active layers of high indium composition and with optimum process for fabrication of electrodes for electrical injection.