LASER DIODES, LEDS, AND SILICON INTEGRATED SENSORS ON PATTERNED SUBSTRATES
20210234064 · 2021-07-29
Inventors
Cpc classification
H01S5/34333
ELECTRICITY
H01S5/24
ELECTRICITY
H01L33/0054
ELECTRICITY
H01L33/20
ELECTRICITY
H01S5/0206
ELECTRICITY
H01L25/167
ELECTRICITY
International classification
H01L33/00
ELECTRICITY
H01L21/02
ELECTRICITY
H01L31/18
ELECTRICITY
H01L33/20
ELECTRICITY
H01S5/02
ELECTRICITY
H01S5/24
ELECTRICITY
Abstract
The present disclosure falls into the field of optoelectronics, particularly, includes the design, epitaxial growth, fabrication, and characterization of Laser Diodes (LDs) operating in the ultraviolet (UV) to infrared (IR) spectral regime on patterned substrates (PSs) made with (formed on) low cost, large size Si, or GaN on sapphire, GaN, and other wafers. We disclose three types of PSs, which can be universal substrates, allowing any materials (III-Vs, II-VIs, etc.) grown on top of it with low defect and/or dislocation density.
Claims
1-9. (canceled)
10. A laser or light emitting device consisting of: at least a pre-processed wafer as a starting substrate, said at least a pre-processed wafer as a starting substrate containing only one bulk layer of same material, and having a top surface as a starting surface; and at least semiconductor material layers, said semiconductor material layers being positioned on top of said at least a pre-processed wafer as a starting substrate.
11. The laser or light emitting device of claim 10, wherein said at least a pre-processed wafer as a starting substrate comprises a V-shaped top surface.
12. The laser or light emitting device of claim 10, wherein said at least a pre-processed wafer as a starting substrate comprises a trapezoidal shape.
13. The laser or light emitting device of claim 10, wherein said at least a pre-processed wafer as a starting substrate comprises a rectangular/square cuboid shape.
14. The laser or light emitting device of claim 10, wherein said at least a pre-processed wafer as a starting substrate comprises a material selected from the group consisting of Silicon, Germanium, Germanium Tin, Silicon Germanium Tin, Gallium Arsenide, Gallium Phosphide, Gallium Antimonide, Indium Antimonide, Indium Gallium Phosphide, GaN, sapphire, GaN-on-Sapphire, Cadmium Telluride, Zinc Telluride, Cadmium Zinc Telluride, Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide, Cupric or Cuprous Oxide, Zinc Oxide, Zinc Phosphide, and Indium Gallium Nitride, II-VI.
15. The laser or light emitting device of claim 10, wherein said at least semiconductor material layers comprise a material selected from the group consisting of Silicon, Germanium, Germanium Tin, Silicon Germanium Tin, Gallium Arsenide, Gallium Phosphide, Gallium Antimonide, Indium Antimonide Indium Gallium Phosphide, GaN, sapphire, GaN-on-sapphire, Cadmium Telluride, Zinc Telluride, Cadmium Zinc Telluride, Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide, Cupric or Cuprous Oxide, Zinc Oxide, Zinc Phosphide, and Indium Gallium Nitride, III-V, II-VI.
16. The laser or light emitting device of claim 10, wherein said at least semiconductor material layers comprise one or more higher bandgap layers or a layer with band alignment such that the conducting band offset is positive with regard to its immediate adjoining layers.
17. The laser or light emitting device of claim 10, wherein said at least semiconductor material layers comprise at least one of: quantum wells, or a quantum dot.
18. The laser or light emitting device of claim 10, wherein said at least semiconductor material layers comprise a doped contact layer.
19. The laser or light emitting device of claim 10, wherein said at least semiconductor material layers comprise at least one layer formed with at least one of: MBE, MOCVD, or an epitaxial technique.
20. The laser or light emitting device of claim 10, wherein said at least semiconductor material layers comprise at least one of: n-type, intentionally undoped, or p-type doped layers, to achieve light emission.
21. The laser or light emitting device of claim 10, wherein said at least semiconductor material layers comprise one or more injection layers that inject carriers into nearby layers.
22. The laser or light emitting device of claim 21, wherein said injection layers comprise at least one layer having its band gap between 0.01 electron Volt and 10 electron volts.
23. The laser or light emitting device of claim 10, wherein said at least a pre-processed wafer as a starting substrate being formed by using at least one of: e-beam lithography, wet-chemical etching, dry etching, or nanoimprint lithography.
24. A sensor device consisting of: at least a pre-processed substrate, said at least a pre-processed wafer as a starting substrate containing only one bulk layer of same material having a top surface as a starting surface; and at least semiconductor material layers, said semiconductor material layers being positioned on top of said at least a pre-processed wafer as a starting substrate.
25. The sensor device of claim 24, wherein said at least a pre-processed wafer as a starting substrate comprises at least one of: a V shape surface, a trapezoidal shape, or a rectangular/square cuboid shape.
26. The sensor device of claim 24, wherein said at least a pre-processed wafer as a starting substrate comprises a material selected from the group consisting of Silicon, Germanium, Germanium Tin, Silicon Germanium Tin, Gallium Arsenide, Gallium Phosphide, Gallium Antimonide, Indium Antimonide Indium Gallium Phosphide, GaN, sapphire, GaN-on-sapphire, Cadmium Telluride, Zinc Telluride, Cadmium Zinc Telluride, Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide, Cupric or Cuprous Oxide, Zinc Oxide, Zinc Phosphide, and Indium Gallium Nitride, III-V, II-VI.
27. The sensor device of claim 24, wherein said at least semiconductor material layers comprise a material selected from the group consisting of Silicon, Germanium, Germanium Tin, Silicon Germanium Tin, Gallium Arsenide, Gallium Phosphide, Gallium Antimonide, Indium Antimonide Indium Gallium Phosphide, GaN, sapphire, GaN-on-sapphire, Cadmium Telluride, Zinc Telluride, Cadmium Zinc Telluride, Mercuri Telluride, Mercuri Cadimum Telluride, Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide, Zinc Oxide, Zinc Phosphide, and Indium Gallium Nitride, III-V, II-VI.
28. The sensor device of claim 24, wherein said at least semiconductor material layers comprise at least one of: n-type, intentionally undoped, or p-type doped layers.
29. The sensor device of claim 24, wherein said at least semiconductor material layers comprise a doped contact layer.
30. The sensor device of claim 24, wherein said at least semiconductor material layers comprise one or more absorption layers having its band gap between 0.01 electron Volt and 10 electron volts.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0043] The present disclosure falls into the field of optoelectronics, particularly, is the design, epitaxial growth, fabrication, and characterization of Laser Diodes (LDs) operating in the ultraviolet (UV) to infrared (IR) spectral regime on patterned substrates (PSs) made with (formed on) low cost, large size Si, or GaN on sapphire, GaN, and other wafers. We disclose three types of PSs, which can be a universal substrates, allowing any materials (III-Vs, II-VIs, etc.) grown on top of it with low defect and/or dislocation density. Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or any other epitaxial growth method can be employed to grow high quality nearly/perfectly dislocation free device structures on these three PSs. Therefore, these PSs enable mass fabrication of high performance LDs operating from UV to IR spectral range. These PSs also enable mass fabrication of other optoelectronic and photonic devices based on III-Vs, II-VIs and other materials including III-Nitride materials.
[0044] Decades of extensive efforts to develop III-Vs or II-VIs based LDs monolithically grown on planer Silicon substrates has been unsuccessful due to large lattice mismatch between LD materials and silicon substrate. Three PSs disclosed in the present disclosure enable monotheistic integration of these LDs with silicon based devices/circuits.
[0045] As the III-nitride based LDs an example, up to date, no low cost commercial UV and green LDs available due to lack of low cost/and or lattice matched substrates. Three types of PSs enable high quality GaN, AlGaN, and InGaN films on these PSs formed on silicon, GaN-on-sapphire, or GaN substrates, thereby enables commercial UV and green LDs on these PSs.
[0046] Three types of PSs are V-groove PS 2, trapezoidal-groove PS 13, and rectangular/square cuboid PS 20.
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[0048] The PSs can be fabricated by either combination of e-beam lithography and wet-chemical etching or combination of e-beam lithography and dry etching or through Nanoimprint transfer of master mold patterns to various wafers followed by etching. For example, potassium hydroxide (KOH) can be used to selective etching to fabricate V-groove 2, or trapezoidal-groove PSs on (100) Si wafer with lithographic patterns made either with e-beam lithography or nanoimprint lithography. Reactive ion etching (RIE) also can be used to fabricate these PSs on Si or GaN on Sapphire or GaN wafers with lithographic patterns made either with e-beam lithography or nanoimprint lithography through transfer of the master mold patterns. The fabrication of PS via nanoimprint lithography followed by etching is described in
[0049] The discussion and description below should be taken to be exemplary in general which is not limited the overall scope of the current version of the present disclosure. PSs enables any laser structures with any materials combinations. We will take III-Nitride LDs as the example to demonstrate the use of three type PSs.
[0050] In this example, LDs are grown by MBE, MOCVD, CVD or any other epitaxial growth method. The PSs can be fabricated from regular substrate 1, for instance, Si, sapphire, GaN-on-sapphire, GaN wafers, or other suitable wafers.
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[0052] Before the growth process of LDs, the PSs are cleaned via standard wafer cleaning processes using standard solvent and/or acid solution. The PS is then loaded into growth chamber. Further cleaning step (steps) is (are) used to remove native oxide which was formed on the surfaces of the PSs.
[0053] Next step is the epitaxial growth of LD structures on PSs, performed inside growth chamber.
[0054] The LD structures can be with single quantum well (for example, Al.sub.xGa.sub.1-xN/Al.sub.yGa.sub.1-yN or In.sub.iGa.sub.1-iN/Al.sub.jGa.sub.1-jN), multiple quantum well, or quantum dots (single layer or multiple layers), served as the active region. The device structure may have n-Al.sub.jGa.sub.1-jN (or n-In.sub.kGa.sub.1-kN) bottom cladding layer 3, n-Al.sub.lGa.sub.1-lN (or n-In.sub.mGa.sub.1-mN, or n-GaN) bottom waveguide layer 4, active region with single or multiple quantum wells, or quantum dots (single layer or multiple layers of In.sub.iGa.sub.1-iN, Al.sub.xGa.sub.1-x, GaN, or AlN) 5, top waveguide layer (p-Al.sub.lGa.sub.1-lN, p-GaN or p-In.sub.mGa.sub.1-mN) 6, and top cladding layer (P—Al.sub.jGa.sub.1-jN or p-In.sub.kGa.sub.1-kN) 7, and final layer of p-contact layer which may be p++-GaN 8 to form ohmic contact on the laser device. For x is in the range of [0-1], y is in the range of [0-1], i is in the range of [0-1], j is in the range of [0-1], k is in the range of [0-1], 1 is in the range of [0-1], m is in the range of [0-1], n is in the range of [0-1], and p is in the range of [0-1]. Thickness of each layer can be designed and depends on emission wavelength of the LDs operating between UV and IR spectral range.
[0055] As was stated above herein, three types of PSs will be used in the present disclosure. The first demonstration/disclosure is the fabrication of LDs on V-groove PSs. Illustrated in
[0056] The LD sample will be taken out of the chamber for characterization and device fabrication.
[0057] The grown LD sample will be used to fabricate LD devices through standard LD fabrication procedures. Device fabrication process of LD on PSs includes the following steps. The LD sample is first cleaned with solvent and DI water. Dry the sample by nitrogen gas. The LD dimension can be defined by standard photolithography on substrate. Photoresist is then spin-coated for the subsequent photolithography step. The LD stripe, length and top contact is defined on the surface of the LD sample by photolithography. Top metal contact is then deposited at desired position defined previously by photolithography. The back metal contact is then deposited on the backside of the n-type doing Si substrate or GaN free standing substrate. Metal contacts can be Ti/Al, Ti/Au or Al for n-type contact and Ni/Au, Ni/Al, or Ni/Al/Au for p-type contacts. For GaN-on-sapphire substrate, the n-metal contact will be deposited on n-GaN layer after a certain photolithograph step which is necessary to open a window on n-GaN layer for metal deposition. The fabricated devices with metal contacts are annealed at between 400-600° C. (or higher) for 1 to 3 minutes in nitrogen ambient to form good ohmic contacts. The length of laser device will be defined with two end-facets by cleaving the wafer at desired positions. Cleaving wafer can be performed by hard-sharp objective such as diamond pen, or scriber.
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[0059] The aspect ratio including L1, CL1, and W1, illustrated in
[0060] The second demonstration/disclosure is the fabrication of LDs on trapezoidal-groove PS 11. The epitaxial growth of LD on this type of substrate is similar to that of LDs on V-groove PS. The trapezoidal-groove PS is cleaned by standard cleaning procedure before loading into the growth chamber. The LD active region can have single quantum well or multiple quantum well, or quantum dots (single layer or multiple layers), served as the active region 14. The device structure may have n-type bottom cladding layer (can be n-Al.sub.jGa.sub.1-jN or n-In.sub.kGa.sub.1-kN) 12, n-type bottom waveguide layer (can be n-Al.sub.lGa.sub.1-lN or n-In.sub.mGa.sub.1-mN, or n-GaN) 13, active region with single or multiple quantum wells (for example, Al.sub.xGa.sub.1-x N/Al.sub.yGa.sub.1-yN or In.sub.iGa.sub.1-iN/GaN), or quantum dots (single layer or multiple layers of In.sub.i N, Al.sub.xGa.sub.1-xN, GaN, or AlN) 14, p-type top waveguide layer (can be p-Al.sub.lGa.sub.l-1N, p-GaN or p-In.sub.mGa.sub.1-mN) 15, p-type top cladding layer (can be Al.sub.jGa.sub.1-jN or p-In.sub.kGa.sub.1-kN) 16, and heavily doped contact layer which may be p.sup.++-GaN 17. Presented in
[0061] The LD on trapezoidal-groove PS sample will be taken out of the chamber and process device fabrication. The fabrication procedure of LDs is similar to the one shown in the first demonstration/disclosures (presented in the device fabrication description above herein).
[0062] The aspect ratio including L2, CL2, and W2, illustrated in
[0063] The third demonstration/disclosure is the fabrication of LDs on rectangular/square cuboid-groove PS 20. The epitaxial growth of LDs on this type of substrate is similar to that of LDs on V-groove PS. Since the procedure for growing and fabricating rectangular cuboid-groove PS and square cuboid-groove PS is similar, in this description, only the rectangular cuboid-groove PS 20 is presented, shown in
[0064] The aspect ratio including L3, CL3, and W3, illustrated in
[0065] Similarly, the LD sample will be taken out of the chamber and going through device fabrication process similar to the one shown in the first or second demonstration/disclosures.
[0066] The embodiments described herein are exemplary and variations are contemplated. For example, P-N or P-I-N structures can be grown on these three patterned (or combinations of these three) substrates using one of the following materials: III-V (including III-N), II-VI, IV-IV, and there ternaries, quaternaries and combination of them. More specifically, as an example, AlxGa1-x N or InxGa1-xN or Si1-x-y GexSny or InAsxSb1-x or HgxCd1-xTe or InSb or InAs with 0≤x≤1, 0≤y≤1, can be grown on the three (and or combination of these three) patterned substrates to form P-N or P-I-N structures.
[0067] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art of UV LDs, LEDs, and silicon integrated sensor that many modifications and substitutions can be made to the preferred embodiments described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure which is specifically set forth in the appended claims.