Prospect of GaN light-emitting diodes grown on glass substrates

Abstract

We report the enhanced electroluminescence (EL) of GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on glass substrates. We found that GaN morphology affected the EL and achieved enhanced EL of GaN-LEDs on glass by identifying the optimal GaN morphology having both high crystallinity and compatibility for device fabrication. At proper growth temperature, GaN crystallinity was improved with increasing GaN crystal size irrespective of the GaN crystallographic orientation, as determined by spatially resolved cathodoluminescent spectroscopy. The optimized GaN LEDs on glass composed of the nearly single-crystalline GaN pyramid arrays exhibited excellent microscopic EL uniformity and luminance values of ~ 9100 cd/m 2 at the peak wavelength of 495 nm. The EL color could be adjusted mainly by varying the quantum well temperature. In addition, new growth methods for achieving high GaN crystallinity at a low growth temperature (e.g. ~700°C) were briefly reviewed and attempted by adopting selective heating. We expect that performance of the GaN LEDs on glass can be much enhanced by enhancing GaN crystallinity and p-GaN coating, and evolvement of low-temperature growth of high-quality GaN might even customize ordinary glass as a substrate, which enables high-performance, low-cost lighting or display.