Scanning Electroluminescence Microscopy: A Powerful Novel Characterization Tool for Light Emitting Diodes

The inhomogeneous electroluminescence (EL) of InGaN/GaN quantum well light emitting diode structures was investigated in this study. Electroluminescence hyperspectral images showed that inhomogeneities in the form of bright spots exhibited spectrally blue-shifted and broadened emission. Scanning electron microscopy combined with cath-odoluminescence (SEM-CL) was used to identify hexagonal pits at the centre of approximately 20% of these features. Scanning transmission electron microscopy imaging with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (STEM-EDX) indicated there may be p-doped AlGaN within the active region caused by the presence of the pit. Weak beam dark-field TEM (WBDF-TEM) revealed the presence of bundles of dislocations associated with the pit, suggesting the surface features which cause the inhomogeneous EL may occur at coales-cence boundaries, supported by trends in the number of features observed across the wafer.

Optica Applicata

IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, 2000

Applied Physics Letters, 2013

Journal of Crystal Growth, 2015

Applied Physics Letters, 1997

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 2013

1997

Near-field scanning optical microscopy was applied to investigate the spatial variations of extended defects and their effects on the optical quality for semi-polar (1 -101) and (11-22) InGaN light emitting diodes (LEDs). (1 -101) and (11-22) oriented InGaN LEDs emitting at 450-470 nm were grown on patterned Si (001) 7° offcut substrates and m-sapphire substrates by means of nano-epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO), respectively. For (1 -101) structures, the photoluminescence (PL) at 85 K from the near surface c+ wings was found to be relatively uniform and strong across the sample. However, emission from the c- wings was substantially weaker due to the presence of high density of threading dislocations (TDs) and basal plane stacking faults (BSFs) as revealed from the local PL spectra. In case of (11-22) LED structures, near-field PL intensity correlated with the surface features and the striations along the direction parallel to the c-axis projection exposed facets where the Indium content was higher as deduced from shift in the PL peak energy.