MOCVD-based Tunnel Junctions for III-Nitride

Emitters

Siddharth Rajan
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Materials Science and Engineering
The Ohio State University
Columbus OH USA

Acknowledgements
Zane J.-Eddine (OSU)
Brendan Gunning, Andrew Armstrong, Mary Crawford (Sandia)

DOE EERE Building Technologies Office (BTO) Award Number 31150

1 rajan@ece.osu.edu
Interband Tunnel Junctions

Tunnel Junctions TJ in reverse bias

• Under reverse bias electrons
tunnel from valence band on p-
e-
side of TJ to open states in the
Ec
conduction band on n-side of TJ e-
• Tunneling enables effective hole
VLED
injection to p-side of reverse
biased TJ
Ev
h+
Tunnel Junctions for application
in LEDs
• Holes can be injected from the
tunnel junction directly into the
n GaN
active region of the LED
• Low-cost process flow (top Tunnel Junction
transparent n-GaN spreading Thin p GaN
layer) – enables new device MQW Metal
designs
n GaN

rajan@ece.osu.edu
 Cascaded LEDs for Efficiency Droop
Akyol et al, Appl. Phys. Lett. 103 , 081107 (2013)

0.8
Efficiency droop: Main issue in LED lighting today
VTJ=0.15V • Carrier overflow
0.7
Conventional LED
• Auger recombination
Efficiency

0.6
VTJ=0.8V Cascaded LEDs
0.5 • Low current density with multiple active regions
0.4
Single vs 3-junction LEDs • Each e-h pair injected creates multiple photons
• Also important for longer wavelenths
0 50 100 150 200
PIN[W/cm2]

3 rajan@ece.osu.edu
High Current Density – Lasers

e-
n GaN
Ec
Tunnel Junction e-
Thin p GaN VLED
MQW Metal
n GaN h+ Ev

• Edge-emitting lasers: ITO can lead to significant losses

• VCSELS need a transparent top region
• High power density - high current density
• Tunnel junctions can enable very low resistance transparent contacts

Tunnel junctions could enable high current density lasers

4 rajan@ece.osu.edu
Key challenges for MOCVD Tunnel Junctions

0.8

n GaN 0.7
VTJ=0.15V

Conventional LED
Tunnel Junction

Efficiency
0.6
Thin p GaN VTJ=0.8V
0.5
MQW Metal
3-junction LED
n GaN 0.4

0 50 100 150 200

PIN[W/cm2]

Objective: transparent low voltage loss tunnel junctions

< 0.2 V @ 35 A/cm2

Main challenges for all-MOCVD structures

1. High doping density in n+ and p+ tunnel junction
2. Abrupt doping profiles (challenging for MOCVD)
3. Activation of buried p-type region
4. Impact of thermal budget (in multi-active region structure) on
quantum well regions

5 rajan@ece.osu.edu
Experimental Results: Record Low MOCVD VTJ
• PN diode shows expected characteristics – turn-on voltage = 3.1V
• TJ resistance was de-embeded using reference PN-diode characteristics
• State-of-art low VTJ demonstrated at 100 A/cm2
0.18 V for transparent (< 7%) InGaN interlayer junction (OSU/Sandia)
0.2 V for GaN homojunction (UCSB/Li et al) - regrown TJ

100 Red:MOCVD, Black:MBE/Hybrid

90
2.0 Meijo/Nagoya
Current Density [A/cm2]

80 Without InGaN
70 With InGaN
1.5
60 NTU

VTJ [V]
50
1.0
40 OSU/Sandia devices NTU
30 Meijo/Nagoya
0.5
20 J.-Eddine et al, in press, UCS
Applied Physics Letters OSU/Sandia B OSU/Sandia
OSU/Sandia
10 OSU OSUUC
SB
0.0
0 0 10 20 90 100 110
0 1 2 3 4 Current Density [A/cm2]
Voltage [V]
Jamal-Eddine, Zane, et al. "Low voltage drop tunnel junctions grown monolithically by MOCVD." APL 118.5 (2021): 053503.
rajan@ece.osu.edu
Multi-active region LEDs and TJ-lasers
3 junction 450 nm LED (Ohio State University/Sandia)

• 3-junction multi-active region LEDs

demostrated
• Near-ideal EQE scaling achieved in
new generation devices
• HR-TEM shows no additional defects
due to doped tunnel junctions

7 rajan@ece.osu.edu
Multi-active region LEDs and TJ-lasers
3 junction 450 nm LED (Ohio State University/Sandia)

• 3-junction multi-active region LEDs

demostrated
• Near-ideal EQE scaling achieved in
new generation devices
• HR-TEM shows no additional defects
due to doped tunnel junctions

TJ-based VCSEL (UCSB)

• 2018 - Demonstrated a tunnel-
injected VCSEL with buried PN
junction
• Edge-emitting laser using a hybrid
MBE/MOCVD tunnel junction
Shows potential of tunnel
junctions for future laser Yonkee, Benjamin P., et al.Optics
SeungGeun Lee et al 2018 Appl.
applications Phys. Express 11 062703 express 24.7 (2016): 7816-7822.

8 rajan@ece.osu.edu
Lateral activation and extended defects

n GaN
Tunnel Junction 30 min @ 900°C
Thin p GaN
MQW
n GaN

Activation conditions are critical

• Dramatic change in device performance as
annealing conditions are optimized
• Lateral activation is complete – devices up to
100x100 um^2 are fully activated

Extended defects/degradation
• No extended defects introduced due to high
doping density
• No degradation in active regions grown above HR TEM of a 3-junctioN LED
the tunnel junction
Hasan, Syed MN, et al. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics (2021). rajan@ece.osu.edu
9
Impact of doping profiles

Doping level and position require nanoscale

precision
• Significant change in voltage drops as doping
levels are increased
• MOCVD doping profiles lead to significant
overlap
• Exact position of doping profiles (at nanometer
scale) can impact the voltage drop.
Hasan, Syed MN, et al. "All-MOCVD-Grown Gallium Nitride Diodes with Ultra-
Low Resistance Tunnel Junctions." J. Phys. D: Applied Physics (2021).

10 rajan@ece.osu.edu
Tunnel-based UV LEDs
p GaN Absorption
p AlGaN loss
TJ-UV LED
MQW
LED n AlGaN
Current n AlGaN
Tunnel Junction

designs p AlGaN/AlGaN SL Electrical

Thin p AlGaN
MQW
LED
p AlGaN loss n AlGaN
MQW
LED
n AlGaN

• Replace p-type contact e-

using tunneling contact. Ec
• Non-equilibrium injection. e-
VLED
Ev
• Reduced light absorption loss
• Better contacts. h+

11 rajan@ece.osu.edu
Tunnel Injected UV LEDs
5x104
MOCVD TJ UV LED RT, CW
4x10 4
0.1mA to 20mA

Intensity (a.u.)
3x104

2x104

1x104 50µm
device
0
280 300 320 340 360 380 400 420
Kuhn, Christian, et al. Wavelength (nm)
Photonics Research 7.5 Zhang, Yuewei, et al. Applied Physics
(2019): B7-B11. Letters 106.14 (2015): 141103.
• Lowest TJ resistance of 5.6 x 10-4 Ohm cm2 is obtained for
Al0.3Ga0.7N TJ
• Polarization-engineered tunnel junctions provide low on-
resistance
• All-MOCVD tunnel junctions have been demonstrated recently
(TU Berlin) – emission at 260 nm

12 rajan@ece.osu.edu
Tunnel-injected UV LEDs
2
10 1.0

0
10 0.8

Al Ga N
0.45

0.3
Ga
Al Ga N
TJ resistance (Ω

0.7
10-2

0.7
0.6

0.55
GaAs

AlGaAs/InAlGaP

Al
0.3

Intensity
10-4 0.4
InP

AlGaN tunnel

(a.u.)
GaSb/InA

GaN
cm )

junctions
2

10-6 0.2
s

10-8 0.0
1 2 3 4 5 200 250 300 350 400 450
Bandgap (eV) Wavelength (nm)
• Demonstration of tunnel junctions for > 5 eV material (70% AlGaN)
• Emission wavelength down to 257 nm demonstrated for tunnel-
injected LEDs
• Could enable next-generation highly efficient UV LEDs and lasers

Electrical injection is efficient, but light extraction still remains a

significant challenge

13 Zhang, Yuewei et al, Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 58.SC (2019): SC0805. rajan@ece.osu.edu
Summary
• Tunnel junctions have made significant progress over the last decade
• Several challenges related to MOCVD tunnel junctions are now
resolved
• MOCVD tunnel junction resistance < 0.2 V at 100 A/cm2
• Multi-active region LEDs with excellent EQE scaling
• Tunnel-injected edge-emitting lasers and VCSELs
• UWBG AlGaN tunnel junctions up to 70% AlGaN

Tunnel Junctions are an exciting new tool for next-

generation III-Nitride LED and lasers!
2
10
Red:MOCVD, Black:MBE/Hybrid
0
Me ijo/Nagoya 10
2.0

Al Ga N
Al Ga N
0.45

0.3
Without InGaN

Al Ga N
TJ resistance (Ω
With InGaN

0.7
10-2

0.7
0.55
1.5

GaAs

AlGaAs/InAlGaP

0.3
NTU
VTJ [V]

1.0 10-4

InP
AlGaN tunn

GaSb/InAs
NTU

GaN
cm )
2
Me ijo/Nagoya
0.5
OSU/Sandia
UCSB OSU/ Sandia 10
-6
junctions
OSU/Sandia
OSU OSUUC SB
0.0
0 10 20 90 100 110
Current Density [A/cm 2]
10-8
1 2 3 4 5
Bandgap (eV)
14 rajan@ece.osu.edu