• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.114-121
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• 2015

In conventional LEDs, a mesa-structure is usually used and it causes the current to be overcrowded in a specific region. We propose a novel structure of GaN-based LED to overcome this problem. In order to distribute the current in an active region, a spreading pad is inserted at the p-type region in the GaN based LED device. The inserted spreading pad helps the current flow because it is more conductive than the p-type GaN layer. By performing electrical and optical simulations, the effects of the spreading pad insertion are confirmed. The results of electrical simulation show that the current spreads more uniformly and more radiative recombination is produced as well. Moreover, from the optical simulation, it is revealed that the ITO is less absorptive material than p-GaN if the condition of specific wavelength sources is satisfied. Considering all of the results, we can conclude that the luminescent power is enhanced by the spreading pad.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.313-313
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• 2012

In recent years there have been many studies of InGaN/GaN based light emitting diodes (LEDs) in order to progress the performance of luminescence. Many previous literatures showed the performance of LEDs by changing the LED structures and substrates. However, the studies carried out by the researchers so far were very complicated and sometimes difficult to apply in practice. Therefore, we propose one simple method of changing the thickness and the numbers of multiple quantum wells (MQWs) in order to optimize their effects. In our research, we investigated electrical and optical properties by changing the well thickness and the number of quantum well (QW) pair in LED structures by growing the structure -inch Si (111) wafer. We defined the samples from LED_1 to LED_3 according to MQW structure. Samples LED_1, LED_2 and LED_3 consist of 5-pair InGaN/GaN (3.5 nm/ 4.5 nm), 5-pair InGaN/GaN (3 nm/4.5 nm) and 7-pair InGaN/GaN (3.5 nm/4.5 nm), respectively. We characterized electrical and optical properties by using electroluminescence (EL) measurement. Also, Efficiency droop was analyzed by calculating external quantum efficiency (EQE) with varying injection current. The EL spectra of three samples show different emission wavelength peaks, FWHM and the blueshift of wavelength caused by screening the internal electric field because of the effect of different MQW structure. The results of optical properties show that the LED_2 sample reduce the internal electric field in QW than LED_1 from EL spectra. the increase in the number of QW pairs reduces the strain and increase the In composition in MQW. And, the points of efficiency droop's peak show different trend from LED_1 to LED_3. It is related with the carrier density in active region. Thus, from the results of experiments, we are able to achieve high performance LEDs and a reduction of efficiency droop and emission wavelength blueshift by optimizing MQWs structure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.174-175
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• 2012

(In, Ga) N-based III-nitride semiconductor materials have been viewed as the most promising materials for the applications of blue and green light emitting devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes. Although the InGaN alloy can have wide range of visible wavelength by changing the In composition, it is very hard to grow high quality epilayers of In-rich InGaN because of the thermal instability as well as the large lattice and thermal mismatches. In order to avoid phase separation of InGaN, various kinds of structures of InGaN have been studied. If high-quality In-rich InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) structures are available, it is expected to achieve highly efficient phosphor-free white LEDs. In this study, we proposed a novel InGaN double hetero-structure grown on GaN nano-pyramids to generate broad-band red-color emission with high quantum efficiency. In this work, we systematically studied the optical properties of the InGaN pyramid structures. The nano-sized hexagonal pyramid structures were grown on the n-type GaN template by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. SiNx mask was formed on the n-type GaN template with uniformly patterned circle pattern by laser holography. GaN pyramid structures were selectively grown on the opening area of mask by lateral over-growth followed by growth of InGaN/GaN double hetero-structure. The bird's eye-view scanning electron microscope (SEM) image shows that uniform hexagonal pyramid structures are well arranged. We showed that the pyramid structures have high crystal quality and the thickness of InGaN is varied along the height of pyramids via transmission electron microscope. Because the InGaN/GaN double hetero-structure was grown on the nano-pyramid GaN and on the planar GaN, simultaneously, we investigated the comparative study of the optical properties. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of nano-pyramid sample and planar sample measured at 10 K. Although the growth condition were exactly the same for two samples, the nano-pyramid sample have much lower energy emission centered at 615 nm, compared to 438 nm for planar sample. Moreover, nano-pyramid sample shows broad-band spectrum, which is originate from structural properties of nano-pyramid structure. To study thermal activation energy and potential fluctuation, we measured PL with changing temperature from 10 K to 300 K. We also measured PL with changing the excitation power from 48 ${\mu}W$ to 48 mW. We can discriminate the origin of the broad-band spectra from the defect-related yellow luminescence of GaN by carrying out PL excitation experiments. The nano-pyramid structure provided highly efficient broad-band red-color emission for the future applications of phosphor-free white LEDs.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.443-446
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• 2009

This study develops a highly transparent ohmic contact scheme using indium oxide doped ZnO (IZO) as a current spreading layer for p-GaN in order to increase the optical output power of nitride-based lightemitting diodes (LEDs). IZO based contact layers of IZO, Ni/IZO, and NiO/IZO were prepared by e-beam evaporation, followed by a post-deposition annealing. The transmittances of the IZO based contact layers were in excess of 80% throughout the visible region of the spectrum. Specific contact resistances of $3.4\times10^{-4}$, $1.2\times10^{-4}$, $9.2\times0^{-5}$, and $3.6\times10^{-5}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm^2$ for IZO, Ni/Au, Ni/IZO, and NiO/IZO, respectively were obtained. The forward voltage and the optical output power of GaN LED with a NiO/IZO ohmic contact was 0.15 V lower and was increased by 38.9%, respectively, at a forward current of 20 mA compared to that of a standard GaN LED with an Ni/Au ohmic contact due to its high transparency, low contact resistance, and uniform current spreading.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.991-996
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• 2010

Blue-green and green LEDs have been successfully fabricated grown by MBE, which has introduced the $ZnS_ySe_{1-x-y}:Te_x$ (x=0.04, y~0.11-0.14) ternary epilayer as an active layer. From the I-V characteristics, the built-in voltage (~2.1 V) is very small compared to other wide bandgap LEDs, such as commercial InGaN-based LEDs (>3.2 V). From the C-V profiling, the effective carrier concentration in the p-type ZnMgSSe cladding layer was evaluated as ${\sim}2.8{\times}10^{16}\;cm^{-3}$ for the present LEDs.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.07a
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• pp.368-369
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• 2003

The recent development of InGaN-based white light emitting diodes (LEDs) has expanded their potential applications in areas such as white electric home appliances, backlight for mobile phone or notebook PC, and indoor lightings. In this lecture, recent researches related to the phosphors for LEDs applications and their luminescent properties were reviewed. PDPs are considered as the most potential flat panel displays with a large-screen size. Phosphors in PDPs directly affect the brightness and lifetime. So, many researchers have tried to improve the luminescence characteristics of the phosphors especially under vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) excitation. We overviewed recent research trends and conclusive achievements for the PDP phosphors.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.2 no.5
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• pp.468-473
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• 2018

We investigate the temperature dependence of efficiency droop in InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well (MQW) blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the temperature range from 20 to $80^{\circ}C$. When the external quantum efficiency (EQE) and the wall-plug efficiency (WPE) of the LED sample were measured as injection current and temperature varied, the droop of EQE and WPE was found to be reduced with increasing temperature. As the temperature increased from 20 to $80^{\circ}C$, the droop ratio of EQE was decreased from 16% to 14%. This reduction in efficiency droop with temperature can be interpreted by a temperature-dependent carrier distribution in the MQWs. When the carrier distribution and radiative recombination rate in MQWs were simulated and compared for different temperatures, the carrier distribution was found to become increasingly homogeneous as the temperature increased, which is believed to partly contribute to the reduction in efficiency droop with increasing temperature.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.588-593
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• 2014

Current crowding problem can worsen the internal quantum efficiency and the negative-voltage ESD of InGaN-based LEDs. In this paper, by using photon emission microscope and thermal emission microscope measurement, we confirmed that the electric field and the current of the InGaN-based LED sample are crowded in specific regions where the distance between p-type metal contact and n-type metal contact is shorter than other regions. To improve this crowding problem of electric field and current, modified metal contact geometry having uniform distance between the two contacts is proposed and verified by a numerical simulation. It is confirmed that the proposed structure shows better current spreading, resulting in higher internal quantum efficiency and reduced reverse leakage current.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.173-179
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• 2021

The electroluminescence (EL) intensities of GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are estimated based on their photoluminescence (PL) properties. The PL intensity obtained under open-circuit conditions is divided into two parts: the PL intensity under a forward bias lower than the optical turn-on voltage, and the difference between the PL intensities under open-circuit conditions and under forward bias. The luminescence induced by photoexcitation under a constant forward bias lower than the optical turn-on voltage is primarily the PL from the excited area of the LED. In contrast the intensity difference, obtained by subtracting the PL intensity under the forward bias from that under open-circuit conditions, contains the EL induced by the photocarriers generated during photoexcitation. In addition, a reverse photocurrent is generated during photoexcitation under constant forward bias across the LED, and can be correlated with the PL-intensity difference. The relationship between the photocurrent and PL-intensity difference matches well the relationship between the injection current and EL intensity of LEDs. The ratio between the photocurrent generated under a bias and the short-circuit current is related to the ratio between the PL-intensity difference and the PL intensity under open-circuit conditions. A relational expression consisting of the ratios, short-circuit current, and PL under open-circuit conditions is proposed to estimate the EL intensity.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.456-461
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• 2010

We investigated the In-based ohmic contacts on Nitrogen-face (N-face) n-type GaN, as well as Ga-face n-type GaN, for InGaN-based vertical Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). For this purpose, we fabricated Circular Transfer Length Method (CTLM) patterns on the N-face n-GaN that were prepared by using a laser-lift off method, as well as on the Ga-face n-GaN that were prepared by using a dry etching method. Then, In/transparent conducting oxide (TCO) and In/TiW schemes were deposited on the CTLM in order for low resistance ohmic contacts to form. The In/TCO scheme on the Ga-face n-GaN showed high specific contact resistance, while the minimum specific contact resistance was only 3${\times}$10$^{-2}$ $\Omega$-cm$^{2}$ after annealing at 300${^{\circ}C}$, which can be attributed to the high sheet resistance of the TCO layer. In contrast, the In/TiW scheme on the Ga-face n-GaN produced low specific contact resistance of 2.1${\times}$10$^{5}$ $\Omega$-cm$^{2}$ after annealing at 500${^{\circ}C}$ for 1 min. In addition, the In/TiW scheme on the N-face n-GaN also resulted in a low specific contact resistance of 2.2${\times}$10$^{-4}$ $\Omega$-cm$^{2}$ after annealing at 300${^{\circ}C}$. These results suggest that both the Ga-face n-GaN and N-face n-GaN.