New Synthesis Process Paves Way for More Efficient Lasers, LEDs
upstart writes:
New synthesis process paves way for more efficient lasers, LEDs:
III-nitride semiconductor materials[*] are wide-bandgap semiconductors that are of particular interest in optic and photonic applications because they can be used to create lasers and LEDs that produce light in the visible bandwidth range. And when it comes to large-scale manufacturing, III-nitride semiconductor materials produced using a technique called metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD).
Semiconductor devices require two materials, a "p-type" and an "n-type." Electrons move from the n-type material to the p-type material. This is made possible by creating a p-type material that has "holes," or spaces that electrons can move into.
A challenge for people who make LEDs and lasers has been that there was a limit on the number of holes that you can make in p-type III-nitride semiconductor materials that are created using MOCVD. But that limit just went up.
"We have developed a process that produces the highest concentration of holes in p-type material in any III-Nitride semiconductor made using MOCVD," says Salah Bedair, co-author of a paper on the work and a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State. "And this is high quality material -- very few defects -- making it suitable for use in a variety of devices."
In practical terms, this means more of the energy input in LEDs is converted into light. For lasers, it means that less of the energy input will be wasted as heat by reducing the metal contact resistance.
[*] Wikipedia: III-nitride semiconductor materials.
Journal Reference:
Evyn L. Routh, Mostafa Abdelhamid, Peter Colter, et al. P-type InxGa1-xN semibulk templates (0.02 < x < 16) with room temperature hole concentration of mid-1019 cm-3 and device quality surface morphology, Applied Physics Letters (DOI: 10.1063/5.0065194)
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