III-nitride nanowire LED with strain modified surface active region and method of making thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9761757-B2
Application number	US-201615060950-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 4, 2016
Priority date	Dec 17, 2013
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

A light emitting diode (LED) device includes a semiconductor nanowire core, and an In(Al)GaN active region quantum well shell located radially around the semiconductor nanowire core. The active quantum well shell contains indium rich regions having at least 5 atomic percent higher indium content than indium poor regions in the same shell. The active region quantum well shell has a non-uniform surface profile having at least 3 peaks. Each of the at least 3 peaks is separated from an adjacent one of the at least 3 peaks by a valley, and each of the at least 3 peaks extends at least 2 nm in a radial direction away from an adjacent valley.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A nanowire device, comprising:
a semiconductor nanowire core; and
a first semiconductor shell located radially around the semiconductor nanowire core,
wherein:
the first semiconductor shell has a non-uniform surface profile having at least 3 peaks;
each of the at least 3 peaks is separated from an adjacent one of the at least 3 peaks by a valley;
each of the at least 3 peaks extends at least 2 nm in a radial direction away from an adjacent valley including a respective indium poor region; and
each of the at least 3 peaks comprises a respective indium rich region having a greater concentration of indium than the indium poor regions of the adjacent valleys.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the device comprises a light emitting diode (LED) device and the first semiconductor shell comprises an active region quantum well shell.

3. The device of claim 2 , further comprising a second semiconductor shell located radially outside the first semiconductor shell.

4. A method of making nanowire device, comprising:
forming a semiconductor nanowire core; and
forming a first semiconductor shell located radially around the semiconductor nanowire core,
wherein:
the first semiconductor shell has a non-uniform surface profile having at least 3 peaks;
each of the at least 3 peaks is separated from an adjacent one of the at least 3 peaks by a valley;
each of the at least 3 peaks extends at least 2 nm in a radial direction away from an adjacent valley including a respective indium poor region; and
each of the at least 3 peaks comprises a respective indium rich region having a greater concentration of indium than the indium poor regions of the adjacent valleys.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the device comprises a light emitting diode (LED) device and the first semiconductor shell comprises an active region quantum well shell.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising forming a second semiconductor shell radially around the first semiconductor shell.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the indium rich regions comprises integral portions of an indium gallium nitride active region quantum shell that laterally surround the semiconductor nanowire core.

8. The device of claim 1 , further comprising an underlayer laterally surrounding the nanowire core having a bumpy surface, wherein strain within the first semiconductor shell is locally modified by bumpiness of the bumpy surface.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the underlayer has a lesser indium concentration than the indium poor regions.

10. The device of claim 8 , wherein the first semiconductor shell includes a material selected from InGaN and InAlGaN.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the indium rich regions contain 15 to 30 atomic percent indium and the indium poor regions contain less than 10 atomic percent indium.

12. The device of claim 3 , wherein:
the semiconductor nanowire core includes an n-doped gallium nitride semiconductor material; and
the second semiconductor shell includes a p-doped gallium nitride semiconductor material.

13. The method of claim 4 , wherein the indium rich regions and the indium poor regions are formed by self-assembly during deposition of the first semiconductor shell.

14. The method of claim 4 , wherein the indium rich regions are formed integrally with the indium poor regions in-situ during formation of an active region shell that includes the first semiconductor shell.

15. The method of claim 4 , wherein the indium rich regions comprises integral portions of an indium gallium nitride active region quantum shell that laterally surround the semiconductor nanowire core.

16. The method of claim 4 , further comprising forming an underlayer laterally surrounding the nanowire core having a bumpy surface around the nanowire core, wherein strain within the first semiconductor shell is locally modified by bumpiness of the bumpy surface.

17. The device of claim 16 , wherein the underlayer has a lesser indium concentration than the indium poor regions.

18. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first semiconductor shell includes a material selected from InGaN and InAlGaN.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein indium rich regions contain 15 to 30 atomic percent indium and the indium poor regions contain less than 10 atomic percent indium.

20. The method of claim 6 , wherein:
the semiconductor nanowire core includes an n-doped gallium nitride semiconductor material; and
the second semiconductor shell includes a p-doped gallium nitride semiconductor material.

Assignees

• Glo Ab

Inventors

• Romano Linda
• Yi Sungsoo
• Svensson Patrik
• Gardner Nathan

Classifications

• H01L27/153

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L2933/0016

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L33/0025

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L33/32

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L33/42

  Electricity · mapped topic