Effect of plasma surface treatment on embedded n-contact for GaN-based blue light-emitting diodes grown on Si substrate

Abstract

Unlike the finger-like n-contact that is prepared after the wafer bonding and the N-polar GaN surface roughening for GaN-based vertical structure light-emitting diodes (LEDs) grown on Si substrates, the embedded via-like n-contact is formed prior to the wafer bonding. The high temperature process of the wafer bonding often causes the electrical characteristics of the via-like embedded n-contact to degrade. In this paper, we study in detail the effect of plasma treatment of the n-GaN surface on the forward voltage of GaN-based LED grown on Si substrate. It is shown that with no plasma treatment on the n-GaN surface, the forward voltage (at 350 mA) of the 1.1 mm1.1 mm chip with a highly reflective electrode of Cr (1.1 nm)/Al is 3.43 V, which is 0.28 V higher than that of the chip with a pure Cr-based electrode. The LED forward voltages for both kinds of n-contacts can be reduced by an O2 plasma treatment on the n-GaN surface. But the LED forward voltage with a Cr/Al-based electrode is still 0.14 V higher than that of the chips with a pure Cr-based electrode. However, after an Ar plasma treatment on the n-GaN surface, the LED forward voltage with a Cr/Al-based electrode is reduced to 2.92 V, which is equal to that of the chip with a pure Cr-based electrode. The process window of the n-GaN surface after the Ar plasma treatment is broader. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is used to help elucidate the mechanism. It is found that Ar plasma treatment can increase the concentration of N-vacancies (VN) at the n-GaN surface. VN acts as donors, and higher VN helps improve the thermal stability of n-contact because it alleviates the degradation of the n-contact characteristics caused by the high temperature wafer bonding process. It is also found that the O content increases slightly after the Ar plasma treatment and HCl cleaning. The O atoms are mainly present in the dielectric GaOx film before the Ar plasma treatment and the HCl cleaning, and they exist almost equivalently in the conductive GaOxN1-x film and the dielectric GaOx film after Ar treatment and HCl cleaning. The conductive GaOxN1-x film and the VN donors formed during the plasma treatment can reduce the contact resistance and the LED forward voltage.