LED ELEMENT, AND PRODUCTION METHOD THEREFOR
First Claim
1. An LED element comprising:
- a support substrate made of a conductor or a semiconductor;
a conductive layer formed on the upper layer of the support substrate;
an insulating layer formed so that a bottom surface thereof is in contact with a portion of an upper surface of the conductive layer;
a first semiconductor layer made of a p-type nitride semiconductor formed so that a bottom surface thereof is in contact with a portion of the upper surface of the conductive layer and a portion of an upper surface of the insulating layer;
a light-emitting layer made of a nitride semiconductor formed on the upper layer of the first semiconductor layer;
a second semiconductor layer made of an n-type nitride semiconductor formed on the upper layer of the light-emitting layer;
a transparent electrode formed on the whole surface of the second semiconductor layer; and
a power supply terminal formed so that a bottom surface thereof is in contact with a portion of an upper surface of the transparent electrode, whereinthe second semiconductor layer in at least a region that is in contact with the transparent electrode is made of AlnGa1-nN (0<
n<
1) and has an n-type impurity concentration larger than 1×
1019/cm3.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Provided is an LED element which achieves high light extraction efficiency even at low operating voltages and which can be produced using a simple process. The LED element has a first semiconductor layer made of a p-type nitride semiconductor, a light-emitting layer made of a nitride semiconductor formed on the upper layer of the first semiconductor layer, a second semiconductor layer made of an n-type nitride semiconductor formed on the upper layer of the light-emitting layer, and a transparent electrode formed on the whole surface of the second semiconductor layer. The second semiconductor layer in at least a region that is in contact with the transparent electrode is made of AlnGa1-nN (0<n<1) and has an n-type impurity concentration larger than 1×1019/cm3.
10 Citations
2 Claims
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1. An LED element comprising:
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a support substrate made of a conductor or a semiconductor; a conductive layer formed on the upper layer of the support substrate; an insulating layer formed so that a bottom surface thereof is in contact with a portion of an upper surface of the conductive layer; a first semiconductor layer made of a p-type nitride semiconductor formed so that a bottom surface thereof is in contact with a portion of the upper surface of the conductive layer and a portion of an upper surface of the insulating layer; a light-emitting layer made of a nitride semiconductor formed on the upper layer of the first semiconductor layer; a second semiconductor layer made of an n-type nitride semiconductor formed on the upper layer of the light-emitting layer; a transparent electrode formed on the whole surface of the second semiconductor layer; and a power supply terminal formed so that a bottom surface thereof is in contact with a portion of an upper surface of the transparent electrode, wherein the second semiconductor layer in at least a region that is in contact with the transparent electrode is made of AlnGa1-nN (0<
n<
1) and has an n-type impurity concentration larger than 1×
1019/cm3.
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2. A method for producing an LED element having a first semiconductor layer made of a p-type nitride semiconductor, a light-emitting layer made of a nitride semiconductor, and a second semiconductor layer made of an n-type nitride semiconductor, comprising:
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a step (a) of preparing a sapphire substrate; a step (b) of forming the second semiconductor layer made of the n-type nitride semiconductor on the upper layer of the sapphire substrate; a step (c) of forming the light-emitting layer and the first semiconductor layer on the upper layer of the second semiconductor layer in this order from below; a step (d) of forming an insulating layer so as to cover a portion of an upper surface of the first semiconductor layer; a step (e) of forming a conductive layer so as to cover an exposed portion of the upper surface of the first semiconductor layer and an upper surface of the insulating layer; a step (f) of bonding a bottom surface of a support substrate made of a conductor or a semiconductor onto an upper surface of the conductive layer directly or via another conductive layer; a step (g) of exfoliating the sapphire substrate by radiating laser light from above in a state in which the support substrate is positioned at a bottom and the sapphire substrate is positioned at a top, so as to expose an upper surface of the second semiconductor layer; a step (h) of forming a transparent electrode on the upper layer of the second semiconductor layer so as to completely cover the upper surface of the second semiconductor layer; and a step (i) of forming a power supply terminal at a predetermined site on the upper layer of the transparent electrode, wherein the step (b) is a step of forming the second semiconductor layer made of AlnGa1-nN (0<
n<
1) and having an n-type impurity concentration larger than 1×
1019/cm3 in at least a region that is in contact with the sapphire substrate.
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Specification