Industries such as the automotive, aerospace or military, as well as environmental and biological research have promoted the development of ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors capable of operating at high temperatures and in hostile environments. UV-enhanced Si photodiodes are hence giving way to a new generation of UV detectors fabricated from wide-bandgap semiconductors, such as SiC, diamond, III-nitrides, ZnS, ZnO, or ZnSe. This paper provides a general review of latest progresses in wide-bandgap semiconductor photodetectors.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0268-1242/18/4/201/pdf

Wide-bandgap semiconductor ultraviolet photodetectors

A lighting device comprising first and second groups of solid state light emitters, which emit light having peak wavelength in ranges of from 430 nm to 480 nm, and first and second groups of lumiphors which emit light having dominant wavelength in the range of from 555 nm to 585 nm. In some embodiments, if current is supplied to a power line, a combination of (1) light exiting the lighting device which was emitted by the first group of emitters, and (2) light exiting the lighting device which was emitted by the first group of lumiphors would have a correlated color temperature which differs by at least 50 K from a correlated color temperature which would be emitted by a combination of (3) light exiting the lighting device which was emitted by the second group of emitters, and (4) light exiting the lighting device which was emitted by the second group of lumiphors.

Lighting device and lighting method

We fabricated three types of high luminous efficacy white light emitting diodes (LEDs). The first was a white LED with a high luminous efficacy (?L) of 249?lm?W?1 and a high luminous flux (v) of 14.4?lm at a forward-bias current of 20?mA. This ?L was approximately triple that of a tri-phosphor fluorescent lamp (90?lm?W?1). The blue LED used as the excitation source in this white LED had a high output power (e) of 47.1?mW and a high external quantum efficiency (?ex) of 84.3%. The second was a high-power white LED, fabricated from the above high-power blue LED, and had a high e of 756?mW at 350?mA. v and ?L of the high-power white LED were 203?lm and 183?lm?W?1 at 350?mA, respectively. The third was a high-power white LED fabricated from four high-power blue LED dies. v and ?L of the high-power white LED were 1913?lm and 135?lm?W?1 at 1?A, respectively. The white LED had a higher flux than a 20?W-class fluorescent lamp and 1.5 times the luminous efficacy of a tri-phosphor fluorescent lamp (90?lm?W?1).

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3727/43/35/354002/pdf

White light emitting diodes with super-high luminous efficacy

Ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors have drawn extensive attention owing to their applications in industrial, environmental and even biological fields. Compared to UV-enhanced Si photodetectors, a new generation of wide bandgap semiconductors, such as (Al, In) GaN, diamond, and SiC, have the advantages of high responsivity, high thermal stability, robust radiation hardness and high response speed. On the other hand, one-dimensional (1D) nanostructure semiconductors with a wide bandgap, such as β-Ga2O3, GaN, ZnO, or other metal-oxide nanostructures, also show their potential for high-efficiency UV photodetection. In some cases such as flame detection, high-temperature thermally stable detectors with high performance are required. This article provides a comprehensive review on the state-of-the-art research activities in the UV photodetection field, including not only semiconductor thin films, but also 1D nanostructured materials, which are attracting more and more attention in the detection field. A special focus is given on the thermal stability of the developed devices, which is one of the key characteristics for the real applications.

A Comprehensive Review of Semiconductor Ultraviolet Photodetectors: From Thin Film to One-Dimensional Nanostructures

A nitride semiconductor device including a light emitting device comprises a n-type region of one or more nitride semiconductor layers having n-type conductivity, a p-type region of one or more nitride semiconductor layers having p-type conductivity and an active layer between the n-type region and the p-type region. In such devices, there is provided with a super lattice layer comprising first layers and second layers which are nitride semiconductors having a different composition respectively. The super lattice structure makes working current and voltage of the device lowered, resulting in realization of more efficient devices.

Nitride semiconductor device

Ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with an InGaN multi-quantum-well (MQW) structure were fabricated on a patterned sapphire substrate (PSS) using a single growth process of metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. In this study, the PSS with parallel grooves along the sapphire direction was fabricated by standard photolithography and subsequent reactive ion etching (RIE). The GaN layer grown by lateral epitaxy on a patterned substrate (LEPS) has a dislocation density of 1.5×108 cm-2. The LEPS-UV-LED chips were mounted on the Si bases in a flip-chip bonding arrangement. When the LEPS-UV-LED was operated at a forward-bias current of 20 mA at room temperature, the emission wavelength, the output power and the external quantum efficiency were estimated to be 382 nm, 15.6 mW and 24%, respectively. With increasing forward-bias current, the output power increased linearly and was estimated to be approximately 38 mW at 50 mA.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1143/JJAP.40.L583/pdf

High Output Power InGaN Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes Fabricated on Patterned Substrates Using Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy

Ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with an InGaN multi-quantum-well (MQW) structure were fabricated on a patterned sapphire substrate (PSS) using a single growth process of metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. The GaN layer grown by lateral epitaxy on a patterned substrate (LEPS) has a dislocation density of 1.5 x 10 8 cm -2 . The LEPS-UV-LED chips were mounted on the Si bases in a flip-chip bonding arrangement. When the UV-LED was operated at a forward-biased current of 20 mA at room temperature, the emission wavelength, the output power and the external quantum efficiency were estimated to be 382 nm, 15.6 mW and 24%, respectively. With increasing forward-biased current, the output power increased linearly and was estimated to be approximately 38 mW at 50 mA.

A group-III nitride based light emitter such as LED and LD, which has a double heterostructure and which comprises a diffusion suppressive layer between a p-type cladding layer and an active layer. The diode having a diffusion suppressive layer of the present invention has higher luminous intensity, greater forward voltage, and longer lifetime than the conventional diodes.

Group-III nitride based light emitter

The external quantum efficiency (EQE, ηe) of conventional near-ultraviolet (NUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with an InGaN multi-quantum-well (MQW) structure is limited by high dislocation density and by the narrow escape cone due to total internal reflection at the GaN/air or sapphire/air interface. We have fabricated the NUV and violet InGaN-MQW-LEDs with the high EQE on the patterned-sapphire substrate (PSS) using a single growth process by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). The PSS with parallel grooves along the GaN direction or the GaN direction was fabricated by a standard photolithography and subsequent reactive ion etching (RIE). In this study, fabricated the LED on the PSS with parallel grooves along the GaN direction. The GaN layer grown by lateral epitaxy on a patterned substrate (LEPS) has dislocation density of 1.5x108 cm-2. The LEPS-NUV (or violet)-LED chips were mounted on the Si bases in a flip-chip bonding arrangement. When the LEPS-NUV-LED (the emission peak wavelength λp: 382 nm) was operated at a forward-bias current of 20 mA at room temperature (RT), the output power (Po) and the EQE were 15.6 mW and 24%, respectively. When the LEPS-violet-LED (λp: 405 nm) was operated at a forward-bias current of 20 mA at RT, the Po and the EQE were 26.3 mW and 43%, respectively. Furthermore, we obtained the Po of approximately 61 mW at 50 mA and 111 mW at 100 mA, respectively. It was revealed that the PSS is very effective in reducing the dislocation density and for increasing the extraction efficiency due to the multiple scattering of the emission light at the GaN/patterned sapphire interface.

High-output power near-ultraviolet and violet light-emitting diodes fabricated on patterned sapphire substrates using metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy

The characterization of Schottky type ultraviolet (UV) detectors with transparent electrode between vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and visible light region using synchrotron radiation is described. The responsivity spectrum of the detectors at 0 V bias was obtained in the wide range between 2 eV (563 nm) and 25 eV (50 nm). The photoemission current from Au electrode was able to be canceled by improving the measuring circuit, and thus we succeeded in operating the detectors without any photoemission current from Au and GaN. The responsivity of the detectors is about 0.15 A/W at 3.5 eV. These results show that these Schottky type detectors with the transparent electrode are effective to detect VUV-UV light (50-360 nm, 3.4-25 eV) without any photoemission.

Youichiro Ohuchi

Papers

High Output Power InGaN Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes Fabricated on Patterned Substrates Using Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy

High Output Power InGaN Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes Fabricated on Patterned Substrates Using Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy

Group-III nitride based light emitter

High-output power near-ultraviolet and violet light-emitting diodes fabricated on patterned sapphire substrates using metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy

Characterization of GaN Based UV-VUV Detectors in the Range 3.4-25 eV by Using Synchrotron Radiation