Highly efficient group-III nitride based light emitting diodes via fabrication of structures on an N-face surface

• US 7,704,763 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2003
• Issued: 04/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Japan Science & Technology Trading Co. Limited
• Original Assignee: Japan Science & Technology Trading Co. Limited, Regents of the University of California (University of California)
• Inventors: Gao, Yan, Fujii, Tetsuo, Nakamura, Shuji, Hu, Evelyn L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jackson, Jr.; Jerome
• Application Number:
  US10/581,940
• Publication Number:
  US 20070121690A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,331 Days
• Field of Search: 438/29
• US Class Current: 438/29
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/16225 the item being non-metallic, e.g. insulating substrate with or without metallisation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/00 Semiconductor devices having potential barriers specially adapted for light emission; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof H10K50/00 takes precedence; devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor components formed in or on a common substrate and including semiconductor components having potential barriers, specially adapted for light emission H01L27/15; semiconductor lasers H01S5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/007 comprising nitride compounds
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/0093 Wafer bonding; Removal of the growth substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/06 within the light emitting region, e.g. quantum confinement structure or tunnel barrier
• 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 33/50 Wavelength conversion elements
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/54 having a particular shape
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/60 Reflective elements

Abstract

A gallium nitride (GaN) based light emitting diode (LED), wherein light is extracted through a nitrogen face (N-face) (42) of the LED and a surface of the N-face (42) is roughened into one or more hexagonal shaped cones. The roughened surface reduces light reflections occurring repeatedly inside the LED, and thus extracts more light out of the LED. The surface of the N-face (42) is roughened by an anisotropic etching, which may comprise a dry etching or a photo-enhanced chemical (PEC) etching.

Claims

1. A method of creating a (B, Al, Ga, In)N light emitting diode (LED), comprising:

fabricating at least an n-type layer, an emitting layer and a p-type layer of the (B, Al, Ga, In)N LED on a substrate;

exposing a nitrogen face (N-face) surface of the n-type layer by removing the substrate from the layers; and

etching the N-face surface of the n-type layer after the substrate is removed to create a plurality of cones having a size not smaller than 200 nm to increase extraction efficiency of light from the emitting layer out of the N-face surface as compared to the N-face surface without the cones.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the N-face surface of the n-type layer is etched using an anisotropic etching.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the anisotropic etching is a dry etching.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the anisotropic etching is a wet etching.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the wet etching is a photo-enhanced chemical (PEC) etching.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the etching of the N-face surface comprises roughening or patterning the N-face surface.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the etched N-face surface reduces light reflections occurring repeatedly inside the LED, and thus extracts more light out of the LED.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate is removed by a laser lift off (LLO) technique.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a c-plane GaN wafer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a p-type electrode is fabricated on the p-type layer and the p-type electrode has a property of high reflection to decrease light absorption and to increase light reflection toward the N-face surface of the n-type layer.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein an n-type electrode is fabricated on the n-type layer and a current-blocking layer is aligned under the n-type electrode to keep current from concentrating below the n-type electrode, so that absorption of the light under the n-type electrode can be avoided and extraction efficiency of the light can be increased.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the LED includes a current-confining frame made of an insulator to restrain leakage current through the sidewalls of the LED without significantly decreasing an emitting area.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the cones are hexagonal shaped cones that have an angle equal to or smaller than:

2 sin<sup>−

1</sup>(n_air/n_s)

where n_air is a refractive index of air and n_s is a refractive index of the n-type layer.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the cones are hexagonal shaped cones that have an angle equal to or smaller than:

2 sin<sup>−

1</sup>(n_enc/n_s),

where n_enc is a refractive index of an epoxy deposited on the etched N-face surface and n_s is a refractive index of the n-type layer.