Low resistance GaN/InGaN/GaN tunnel junctions

Enhanced interband tunnel injection of holes into a p-n junction is demonstrated using p-GaN/InGaN/n-GaN tunnel junctions with a specific resistivity of 1.2 × 10−4 Ω cm2. The design methodology and low-temperature characteristic of these tunnel junctions are discussed, and insertion into a p-n junction device is described. Applications of tunnel junctions in III-nitride optoelectronics devices are explained using energy band diagrams. The lower bandgap and polarization fields reduce tunneling barrier, eliminating the need for ohmic contacts to p-type GaN. This demonstration of efficient tunnel injection of carriers in III-nitrides can lead to a replacement of existing resistive p-type contact material in light emitters with tunneling contact layers requiring very little metal footprint on the surface, resulting in enhanced light extraction.

[1]  Michael Wraback,et al.  n-InGaN /p-GaN single heterostructure light emitting diode with p-side down , 2008 .

[2]  High current density carbon-doped strained-layer GaAs (p+)-InGaAs(n+)-GaAs(n+) p-n tunnel diodes , 1993 .

[3]  S. Ringel,et al.  Growth model for plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy of N-polar and Ga-polar InxGa1−xN , 2011 .

[4]  GdN nanoisland-based GaN tunnel junctions. , 2012, Nano letters.

[5]  E. Kane.  Zener tunneling in semiconductors , 1960 .

[6]  T. Anan,et al.  Low resistance tunnel junctions with type-II heterostructures , 2006 .

[7]  Jerry R. Meyer,et al.  Electron Bandstructure Parameters , 2007 .

[8]  S. Rajan,et al.  Demonstration of forward inter-band tunneling in GaN by polarization engineering , 2011, 1108.4075.

[9]  S. A. Stockman,et al.  GaN-Based Light Emitting Diodes with Tunnel Junctions , 2001 .

[10]  Siddharth Rajan,et al.  Suppression of electron overflow and efficiency droop in N-polar GaN green light emitting diodes , 2012 .

[11]  A. Gossard,et al.  Efficient III–V tunneling diodes with ErAs recombination centers , 2010 .

[12]  Huili Grace Xing,et al.  N-polar III-nitride quantum well light-emitting diodes with polarization-induced doping , 2011 .

[13]  E. Derouin,et al.  Metamorphic DBR and tunnel-junction injection. A CW RT monolithic long-wavelength VCSEL , 1999 .

[14]  M. Amann,et al.  Ultra-low resistive GaSb/InAs tunnel junctions , 2011 .

[15]  T. Wen,et al.  Low-operation voltage of InGaN-GaN light-emitting diodes with Si-doped In/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/N/GaN short-period superlattice tunneling contact layer , 2001, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[16]  M. S. Cho,et al.  GaN-based light-emitting diodes using tunnel junctions , 2002 .

[17]  S. Rajan,et al.  Polarization-engineered GaN/InGaN/GaN tunnel diodes , 2010, 1008.4124.

[18]  Z. Q. Li,et al.  Effects of polarization charge on the photovoltaic properties of InGaN solar cells , 2011 .

[19]  Monirul Islam,et al.  A Hybrid Micro-Pixel Based Deep Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diode Lamp , 2011 .

[20]  L. Esaki.  New Phenomenon in Narrow Germanium p-n Junctions , 1958 .

[21]  D. Law,et al.  40% efficient metamorphic GaInP∕GaInAs∕Ge multijunction solar cells , 2007 .

[22]  S. Bank,et al.  Enhanced conductivity of tunnel junctions employing semimetallic nanoparticles through variation in growth temperature and deposition , 2010 .

[23]  Christopher G. Bailey,et al.  Double quantum-well tunnel junctions with high peak tunnel currents and low absorption for InP multi-junction solar cells , 2012 .

[24]  S. Ringel,et al.  Molecular beam epitaxy of N-polar InGaN , 2010 .

[25]  Patrick Fay,et al.  Polarization-induced Zener tunnel junctions in wide-band-gap heterostructures. , 2009 .

[26]  Umesh K. Mishra,et al.  Multi‐color light emitting diode using polarization‐induced tunnel junctions , 2007 .