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Vertical β-Ga2O3 Schottky diodes from metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) epitaxy are reported for high-power devices. The field plate Schottky barrier diode (SBD) showed a differential specific on-resistance (Ron,sp) of 0.67 mΩ-cm2 and an average breakdown electric field of 2.28 MV/cm. To the best of our knowledge, this Ron,sp is the lowest among the available vertical β-Ga2O3 SBD reports, and contributed from the high-mobility MOCVD β-Ga2O3 epitaxy. Moreover, the average electric field of 2.28 MV/cm is higher compared to most of the vertical β-Ga2O3 punch-through SBDs. These results suggest that the high-quality MOCVD β-Ga2O3 can be promising for high-power devices.

Using electron emission spectroscopy, measurement and analysis were conducted on the energy distribution of vacuum emitted electrons from an electrically driven InGaN/GaN commercial blue c-plane (peak wavelengths λ≈465 nm) light emitting diode (LED) with 60 nm of p-GaN on top of the active region. The signal-to-noise ratio of semiconductor peaks is improved on the thin p-GaN LED compared to previously published data on thicker p-GaN samples and is attributed to reduced loss of electrons en route to emission into vacuum during transit through the p-GaN. This further proves that hot electrons are generated in the bulk region and not by light or other hot electron generation mechanisms at the surface. Using square root of the light output power as a proxy for the active region carrier density, n, the hot electron integrated peak intensity is shown to be proportional to n3 and, thus, is directly attributed to a 3-body Auger process. Since there are significant Auger recombination currents even at low injection current densities, it is expected that Auger recombination current will dominate over radiation recombination and Shockley–Read–Hall (SRH) currents at higher current densities. This identifies Auger recombination as the dominant cause of efficiency droop.

Vertical β-Ga2O3 Schottky diodes from metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)-grown epitaxial films are reported in this paper for high-power application devices. The Schottky diode, fabricated with a field termination structure, showed a low differential specific on-resistance of 0.67 mΩ cm2. Furthermore, the MOCVD-grown β-Ga2O3 vertical Schottky diodes exhibited a punch-through breakdown and a higher Baliga's figure-of-merit compared to those from other epitaxial growth methods of similar drift layer thickness. This suggests that the MOCVD growth, supporting high-quality epitaxy, can be promising for high-performance β-Ga2O3-based high-power devices.

In this study, we experimentally investigated the role of V-defect density on the performance of green III-nitride LEDs grown on sapphire substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. We systematically varied the threading dislocation (TD) density from 4 × 108 to 1 × 109 cm−2 by changing the V/III ratio during initial high temperature GaN growth. A 30-period InGaN/GaN superlattice promoted V-defect formation and growth at TDs, where the density of V-defects was correlated to the TD density. By interrupting the LED growth and examining the surface of the active region, we quantified the average size and density of V-defects. In a series of LEDs, we measured a systematic decrease in forward voltage (VF) with V-defect density. At a V-defect density of 5.0 × 108 cm−2 and TD density of 1 × 109 cm−2, green LED devices were demonstrated with λ = 523 nm and VF = 2.94 V at 20 A cm−2. These results highlight the potential of using V-defect engineering to achieve low VF long wavelength LEDs on sapphire substrates, where opening of remaining threading dislocations into V-defects presents an opportunity for further VF reduction.

Tunnel junctions (TJs) offer alternative designs and promise in some cases improved performances for nitride-based light-emitting diode (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs) and are widely used in academic studies. However, the voltage penalty of the LEDs and LDs, in comparison with standard contact technologies, has been a major concern especially for commercial applications. In this study, we investigated methods to achieve low excess voltage. Using ammonia molecular beam epitaxy (NH3 MBE), GaN TJs were grown on commercial metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) grown blue LED wafers. Atom probe tomography (APT) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) indicate 1 min buffered HF (BHF) clean of the regrowth interface reduced Mg and impurity incorporation into the n++ regrown TJ layers. The wafers were processed and measured in parallel to reference wafers using both university processes and industry processes. At 20 A cm−2, TJ LEDs grown with Si δ-doping at the junction interface processed in the university cleanroom had a forward voltage of 3.17 V in comparison to 2.86 V for LEDs processed with a standard indium tin oxide (ITO) contact. Unencapsulated TJ LEDs processed by industrial process without ITO or current blocking layer had about 0.3 V excess voltage compared to reference LEDs. The TJ LEDs also had more uniform light emission profile. The low excess voltage and consistent results acquired in both settings suggest that TJ can be scaled for industrial processes.

The measurement of the energy distribution of vacuum emitted electrons from InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) has proven essential in understanding the efficiency loss mechanism known as droop. We report on the measurement and identification of a new low-energy feature in addition to the previously measured three peaks present in the electron emission spectrum from a forward biased LED. Photoemission measurements show that the two low-energy peaks correspond to photoemitted electrons from each of the p-contact metals, palladium and gold. We confirm that the mid and high-energy peaks are due to electrons which have transited the p-type region of the device and have been emitted from the semiconductor surface from the bulk Γ-valley or a high-energy side valley.