Advances & Challenges for AlGaN-based

UV-LED technologies
Michael Kneissl
Institute of Solid State Physics, TU Berlin, Germany
Ferdinand-Braun-Institut gGmbH, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik, Berlin, Germany

U.S. DOE 18th Lighting R&D Workshop, February 1st - 4th, 2021
Applications of ultraviolet light emitters

M. Kneissl | Institute of Solid State Physics

Page 2
EQE of UV-LEDs: State-of-the-Art
M. Kneissl et al., Nature Photonics 13, 233 (2019)

“Deep UV “UVB
drop-off” gap”

0.1

AlN AlGaN GaN

0.01

M. Kneissl | Institute of Solid State Physics

Page 3
 Challenges for deep UV LEDs

p-GaN cap
Ohmic (V), UV-reflective p-contacts (LEE)
p-AlGaN SPSL
p-AlGaN EBL Low resistance (V), UV-transparent p-layers
Efficient carrier injection (CIE)
(In)AlGaN MQWs High IQE, carrier confinement (CIE),
polarization control (LEE)

n-AlGaN Efficient current spreading, n-contact (V)

AlxGa1-xN transition Strain management

Low defect densities (IQE)

AlN base
UV transparency & light extraction (LEE)
substrate Heat extraction, high-power (Pmax)

M. Kneissl | Institute of Solid State Physics

Page 4
Effect of dislocations on the IQE of UV-LEDs
Internal Quantum Efficiency (%)

100 Pout= 73 mW Ndd = 1/r2

(@350 mA, flip-chip)
bulk AlN
r
ELO or pss
AlN/sapphire Pout= 27 mW
(@350 mA, flip-chip)

10 AlGaN-QW LED
 = 280 nm, j = 100 A/cm2
simulation results Pout= 2.5 mW
IQE from PL (our data) (@350 mA, flip-chip)
From Ref. [1]
From Ref. [2] AlN/sapphire Simulation parameters [3]:
1
1E7 1E8 1E9 1E10  AlGaN-MQW LEDs
dislocation density (1/cm )
2   = 280 nm, j = 100 A/cm2
[1] Ban et al., APEX 4, 052101 (2011)  No SRH from point defects
[2] Mickevicius et al., APL 101, 211902 (2012)  Light extraction: extr = 10%
[3] Karpov et al., APL 81, 4721 (2002)

M. Kneissl | Institute of Solid State Physics

Page 5
 TDD of AlN/sapphire templates*
AlN/sapphire template technologies
TDD ~ 4.0x109 cm-2

MOVPE AlN 1.5 µm

sapphire

TDD ~ 8.1x108 cm-2

sputter. AlN HTA AlN** 0.9 µm

sapphire sapphire TDD ~ 1.5x109 cm-2

MOVPE AlN
5.5 µm
MOVPE AlN

sapphire TDD ~ 8.5x108 cm-2

sapphire sapphire

MOVPE AlN
5.5 µm
sputter. AlN HTA AlN**

sapphire sapphire sapphire

sapphire

*Sylvia Hagedorn et al., phys. stat. sol. (a) 217, 1901022 (2020)
**Hideto Miyake et al., Applied Physics Express 9, 025501 (2016)
Page 6 **Hiroyuki Fukuyama, Hideto Miyake et al., Jap. J. of Appl. Phys. 55, 05FL02 (2016)
CL of AlGaN MQWs on different templates

 AlGaN MQW heterostructures grown side by side on different AlN/sapphire

templates by MOVPE
 TDD visualized by CL as their non-radiative recombination causes dark-spots
 Lowest dark-spot-density (DSD) on HTA MOVPE ELO AlN/sapphire

planar HTA HTA ELO

planar AlN/sapphire ELO AlN/sapphire
AlN/sapphire AlN/sapphire

DSD: 3.5 × 109 cm-2 DSD: 1.1 × 109 cm-2 DSD: 1.4 × 109 cm-2 DSD: 0.9 × 109 cm-2

N. Susilo et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 112, 041110 (2018)

M. Kneissl | Institute of Solid State Physics
Page 7
Effects of TDD on IQE for different templates
TDD determined by FWHM of HR-XRD
Dark spot density determined by CL
TDD determined by XTEM  Good agreement between
10
10 TDD determined by HR-XRD,
Threading dislocation density

40 panchromatic CL (DSD), and

Dark spot density (cm-2)

XTEM

30
 Clear correlation between
IQE and TDD

IQE (%)
109  Lowest TDD and highest
20 IQE for MQW on HTA ELO
AlN/sapphire
IQE from
10
Experiment: IQE = EQE/LEE
*Simulation parameters: j = 13 A/cm²,
Simulation (SiLENSe*) µe = 120cm²/Vs, µh = 6cm²/Vs, TDD
based on DSD determined by CL of
108 0 MQWs), Karpov et al. model
planar planar HTA ELO HTA ELO
AlN/sapphire AlN/sapphire AlN/sapphire AlN/sapphire

M. Kneissl | Institute of Solid State Physics

Page 8
Light extraction from UV-LEDs
Extraction via substrate Paths of created photons

LI characteristic of a UVC-LED

60
Flip-chip LED
in SMD package
50

emission power (mW)

Non-reflective contacts
 = 262 nm
40
Poor light extraction efficiencies for UV-LEDs
(e.g. flip-chip mounted LED: LEE ~7%) 30
 Need for enhanced light extraction
20
Encapsulation with UV-transparent polymers
 Challenges: UV-absorption, low refractive with encapsulant
10 flip-chip LED
index, long-term stability
UV-reflective contacts & UV-transparent p-side: 0
0 100 200 300 400
 Challenges: Ohmic p-contacts, p-AlGaN
dc current (mA)
layer resistance
M. Kneissl | Institute of Solid State Physics
Page 9
DUV-LEDs for in-vivo disinfection

Irradiation system with an array of 118

 Light from DUV LEDs (<235 nm) does not
DUV-LEDs emitting at 233 nm*
penetrate living skin layers

 in-vivo disinfection without damage to

human skin

 In-activation of multidrug resistant bacteria,

e.g., MRSA, MSSA

 Disinfection of airborne viruses, e.g., SARS-

CoV2, influenza

 Required DUV dose levels: 2 – 40 mJ/cm2

© FBH/P. Immerz

*M.C. Meinke et al., Management & Krankenhaus 9, 20 (2020)

Page 10
 Performance of 233 nm LEDs on sapphire
15 2,5
Flip-Chip DUV-LED
CIE
peak= 233 nm 102
2,0
T = 20°C

emission power (mW)

RRE
10 101
voltage (V)

1,5

efficiency (%)
LEE
100
1,0 EQE
5 -1
10
0,5
EQE = 0.35%
Pout= 1.88mW @100mA 10-2
0 0,0
0 20 40 60 80 100
10-3 𝐄𝐐𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐄 𝐂𝐈𝐄 𝐑𝐑𝐄
dc current (mA)
102
10-4
210 220 230 240 250 260 270
spectral power (µW/nm)

101 emission wavelength (nm)

 Steep drop in EQE for shorter wavelength LEDs

100
 Degradation in light extraction (LEE), radiative
I = 100 mA (dc), 20 °C
10-1 peak = 233 nm recombination (RRE) & current injection efficiency (CIE)
FWHM = 11.5 nm
=> Fundamental physical limitations or engineering
10-2 challenge?
200 250 300 350 400 450
N. Lobo-Ploch et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 117, 111102 (2020)
wavelength (nm)
Page 11 M. Guttmann et al., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 58, SCCB20 (2019)
Summary

 Sputtered & high-temperature annealed (HTA) AlN layers on sapphire

promising low cost, low TDD template technology for UVC-LEDs
 Reduced threading dislocation densities
 Enhanced IQE, EQE and WPE
 Improved lifetimes
 Further advances in UVC-LED efficiency will require enhanced light
extraction, i.e. UV-reflective contacts, UV-stable encapsulation, …
 Pushing the wavelength limits of deep UV-LEDs (<250 nm)
 233 nm LEDs with 1.88 mW output power & EQE = 0.35%
 Strong decrease in EQE for LEDs wavelength < 250 nm
 Drop in in LEE, IQE, and CIE for wavelength < 230 nm
 Advanced heterostructure designs for improved carrier injection
Acknowledgements
Institute of Solid State Physics, TU Berlin:
G. Cardinali, J. Enslin, P. Gupta, M. Guttmann, C. Kuhn, F. Mehnke, F. Nippert, C.
Reich, M. Schillig, N. Susilo, S. Wu, L. Sulmoni, T. Wernicke

Ferdinand-Braun-Institute, Berlin:
H.K. Cho, J. Glaab, S. Hagedorn, A. Knauer, T. Kolbe, N. Lobo-Ploch, A. Mogilatenko,
C. Netzel, J. Rass, J. Ruschel, S. Walde, S. Einfeldt, M. Weyers

Collaborations:
 L. Cancellara, M. Bickermann, M. Albrecht (Institute for Crystal Growth, Berlin)
 G. Kusch, R. Martin, C. Trager-Cowan (U. Strathclyde, UK)
 H. Miyake (Mie University, Japan)
 M. C. Meinke (Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany)
 A. Kramer (University of Greifswald Medical School, Germany)

Page 13