Nonpolar a-plane light-emitting diode with an in-situ SiNx interlayer on r-plane sapphire grown by metal-organic chemical vapour deposition

Abstract

We report on the growth and fabrication of nonpolar a-plane light emitting diodes with an in-situ SiNx interlayer grown between the undoped a-plane GaN buffer and Si-doped GaN layer. X-ray diffraction shows that the crystalline quality of the GaN buffer layer is greatly improved with the introduction of the SiNx interlayer. The electrical properties are also improved. For example, electron mobility and sheet resistance are reduced from high resistance to 31.6 cm2/(V·s) and 460 Ω/□ respectively. Owing to the significant effect of the SiNx interlayer, a-plane LEDs are realized. Electroluminescence of a nonpolar a-plane light-emitting diode with a wavelength of 488nm is demonstrated. The emission peak remains constant when the injection current increases to over 20 mA.