GaN-Based Ultraviolet Light Emitting Diodes With Ex Situ Sputtered AlN Nucleation Layer

We demonstrated the electro-optical characteristics of gallium nitride (GaN)-based ultraviolet (UV) light emitting diodes (LEDs) with sputtered aluminum nitride (AlN) nucleation layer. The introduction of the ex situ sputtered AlN nucleation layer improved the crystal quality of the GaN and the n-AlGaN layer of the GaN-based UV LEDs. Hence, the 20-mA output power of UV LEDs with ex situ AlN nucleation layers is higher than that of UV LEDs with GaN nucleation layers. In addition, the enhanced power output of UV LEDs with ex situ AlN nucleation could reach around 52% in magnitude at peak emission wavelengths of 370 nm compared with power outputs of UV LEDs with GaN nucleation layers. Furthermore, UV LEDs with ex situ AlN nucleation show improved reliability. The UV LEDs with ex situ AlN nucleation layer revealed a power output drop of around 9% within 168 hours , which is less than the around 14% power drop of UV LEDs with GaN nucleation layer.