Semiconductor light-emitting element having an aluminum nitride substrate

• US 10,497,832 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2017
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Asahi Kasei Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Asahi Kasei Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Takeda, Koumei, Yamada, Satoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, David
• Application Number:
  US15/652,300
• Publication Number:
  US 20170317234A1
• Time in Patent Office: 868 Days
• Field of Search: 257 76, 257 98, 257E21121, 257E33006, 438 29
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 29/403 AIII-nitrides
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 33/005 Oxydation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0242 Crystalline insulating materials
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02502 consisting of two layers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02513 Microstructure
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2933/0025 relating to coatings
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/0075 comprising nitride compounds
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/20 with a particular shape, e.g. curved or truncated substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/22 Roughened surfaces, e.g. at the interface between epitaxial layers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/32 containing nitrogen
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/44 characterised by the coatings, e.g. passivation layer or anti-reflective coating

Abstract

There are provided a setting process configured to set in a chamber an aluminum nitride substrate in which a semiconductor layer is formed on a first principal plane, and an oxide film forming process configured to heat an inside of the chamber with a water molecule (H₂O) being introduced in the chamber and to form an oxide film including an amorphous oxide film and/or a crystalline oxide film on a second principal plane located on an opposite side to the first principal plane of the aluminum nitride substrate.

Claims

1. A semiconductor light-emitting element, comprising:

a semiconductor layer formed on a first principal plane of an aluminum nitride substrate; and

an oxide film formed on a second principal plane located on an opposite side to the first principal plane of the aluminum nitride substrate, the oxide film being smaller in refractive index than the aluminum nitride substrate, wherein the oxide film is a layered structure made of a plurality of the oxide films including an amorphous oxide film and a crystalline oxide film, and wherein a thickness of the amorphous oxide film is equal to or larger than 10 nm and equal to or smaller than 3 μ

m, and a thickness of the crystalline oxide film is equal to or larger than 10 nm and equal to or smaller than 2 μ

m.

2. The semiconductor light-emitting element according to claim 1, wherein an interface between the oxide film and the aluminum nitride substrate has an uneven structure.

3. The semiconductor light-emitting element according to claim 1, wherein a surface of the oxide film has an uneven structure.

4. The semiconductor light-emitting element according to claim 1,

wherein the oxide film has an uneven structure at an interface between the amorphous oxide film and the crystalline oxide film.

5. The semiconductor light-emitting element according to claim 1,

wherein the oxide film includes the crystalline oxide film on the amorphous oxide film.

6. The semiconductor light-emitting element according to claim 1, wherein the oxide film includes Al.

7. The semiconductor light-emitting element according to claim 1, wherein the semiconductor layer is a group III-V compound semiconductor layer including an element selected from the group consisting of at least aluminum, gallium, nitrogen, and indium.

8. The semiconductor light-emitting element according to claim 1, wherein the second principal plane of the aluminum nitride substrate is a C plane and an N plane in a hexagonal crystal.