Methods for producing composite GaN nanocolumns and light emitting structures made from the methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11322652-B2
Application number	US-201615377775-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 13, 2016
Priority date	Dec 14, 2015
Publication date	May 3, 2022
Grant date	May 3, 2022

Abstract

A method for growing on a substrate strongly aligned uniform cross-section semiconductor composite nanocolumns is disclosed. The method includes: (a) forming faceted pyramidal pits on the substrate surface; (b) initiating nucleation on the facets of the pits; and; (c) promoting the growth of nuclei toward the center of the pits where they coalesce with twinning and grow afterwards together as composite nanocolumns. Multi-quantum-well, core-shell nanocolumn heterostructures can be grown on the sidewalls of the nanocolumns. Furthermore, a continuous semiconductor epitaxial layer can be formed through the overgrowth of the nanocolumns to facilitate fabrication of high-quality planar device structures or for light emitting structures.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for growing a composite nanocolumn comprising:
forming a three-faceted tetrahedron-shaped pit below a surface of a sapphire substrate wherein each facet comprises an exposed surface of a respective r-plane of the sapphire substrate;
initiating an a-plane GaN sub-nanocolumn nucleation on each facet;
promoting a growth of an a-plane GaN sub-nanocolumn on each facet toward a center of the three-facet tetrahedron-shaped pit whereby the a-plane GaN sub-nanocolumns coalesce to form an a-plane composite nanocolumn.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the three-faceted tetrahedron-shaped pit is formed by wet chemical etching in a H 3 PO 4 based solution.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the a-plane GaN sub-nanocolumns and a-plane composite nanocolumn have a non-polar a-plane orientation.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a size of the three-faceted tetrahedron-shaped pit in a lateral dimension is sub-micron.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a size of the three-faceted tetrahedron-shaped pit in a lateral dimension is in a range of 10 nanometers to 50 microns.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprised of a plurality of three-faceted tetrahedron-shaped pits and wherein the three-faceted tetrahedron-shaped pits are formed using a mask on the surface of the sapphire substrate to create a two-dimensional lattice pattern of three-faceted tetrahedron-shaped pits on the surface of the sapphire substrate.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the a-plane GaN sub-nanocolumns and a-plane composite nanocolumn have a non-polar a-plane orientation.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the a-plane sub-nanocolumns and a-plane composite nanocolumn are grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy techniques.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the a-plane composite nanocolumn comprises a Group III-nitride semiconductor material.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sapphire substrate is a c-plane sapphire substrate.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sapphire substrate is a c-plane sapphire substrate and a facet of the faceted pyramidal pit is parallel to an r-plane of the c-plane sapphire substrate.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pit is a three-faceted tetrahedron-shaped pit and the three-faceted tetrahedron-shaped pit is formed by etching the substrate in a gas mixture containing HCl.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the substrate is a c-plane sapphire substrate and wherein a facet of the three-faceted tetrahedron-shaped pit is parallel to an r-plane of the c-plane sapphire substrate.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises growing a composite nanocolumn multilayer GaN and InGaN light emitting structure.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises growing a composite nanocolumn multilayer GaN and InGaN light emitting structure on the top of the composite nanocolumn.

16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises growing a composite nanocolumn multilayer GaN and InGaN light emitting structure on the sides of the a-plane composite nanocolumn.

17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises growing a composite nanocolumn multilayer GaN and AlGaN photodetector structure on the a-plane composite nanocolumn.

18. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises growing a composite nanocolumn multilayer GaN and AlGaN photodetector structure on top of the a-plane composite nanocolumn.

19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises growing a composite nanocolumn multilayer GaN and AlGaN photodetector structure on sides of the a-plane composite nanocolumn.

20. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises growing a composite nanocolumn field emission structure on the a-plane composite nanocolumn.

21. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises growing a power device on the a-plane composite nanocolumn.

22. The method according to claim 1 further comprising growing composite nanocolumn multilayer GaN and InGaN light emitting structures on the a-plane composite nanocolumn wherein the light emitting structures emit different wavelengths based on crystallographic facets on which they are grown on the a-plane composite nanocolumn.

Assignees

• Ostendo Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Volkova Anna
• Ivantsov Vladimir
• Syrkin Alexander
• Haskell Benjamin A
• El-Ghoroury Hussein S

Classifications

• H10P14/3462

  Nanowires · CPC title

• H10P14/3416

  Nitrides · CPC title

• H10P14/20

  of semiconductor materials · CPC title

• H10F71/1276

  comprising growth substrates not made of Group III-V materials · CPC title

• H10F71/1274

  comprising nitrides, e.g. InGaN or InGaAlN · CPC title