We have demonstrated the operation of UV-B laser diodes at room temperature by current injection using lattice-relaxed high-quality AlGaN fabricated on a sapphire substrate. Meanwhile, there are still many issues to be solved for practical use, especially the high threshold current required for laser oscillation and the low light output obtained. In this presentation, we report the results of our study on the reduction of lateral optical loss by applying a refractive index waveguide structure to reduce the threshold current. Specifically, device design and process technology development were carried out, and as a result, laser oscillation with an oscillation wavelength of 298 nm and a threshold current of 85 mA was obtained under room temperature pulse driving. In addition, optimization of the device layer structure for increasing the output power will be discussed.
UV laser diodes have many advantages over existing gas lasers and solid-state lasers, such as compact size, high efficiency, low power consumption, controllable wavelength, and no use of rare noble gases, and are therefore attracting much attention for their practical application. In this presentation, we introduce our AlGaN-based laser diode in the UV-B region (wavelength of 280~315 nm), which has been difficult to realize in the past. Two bottlenecks existed in the realization of this device: the difficulty of realizing a layer structure that simultaneously realizes the formation of a favorable optical cavity and the high carrier density injection required for laser oscillation, and the difficulty of obtaining high-quality AlGaN crystals with low carrier injection that provide a large optical gain. Our group has solved these problems by using a structure with polarized doping in the p-cladding layer and a high-quality lattice-relaxed AlGaN template, and demonstrated laser oscillation by current injection. I would like to discuss the details of these breakthroughs. I would also like to introduce the latest device performance.
We have demonstrated RT pulsed operation of AlGaN-based UV-B LDs. In this presentation, we would like to introduce our recent efforts to achieve higher output power. To increase the output power of LDs, it is essential to increase the external differential quantum efficiency ηd, increase the input current, and reduce the threshold current. The ηd is determined by the carrier injection efficiency ηi, internal losses and mirror losses in the LD. In LD with the polarization doped structure, the polarized positive fixed charge formed at the interface of the pn junction allows free electrons to easily overflow to the p-AlGaN cladding layer side. Therefore, improving the ηi is one of the most effective approaches to increase the ηd. In this study, we investigated the increase of ηi through device simulators and actual experiments. Through these investigations, we have succeeded in achieving a peak power of over 150 mW in RT pulsed driving of UV-B LDs.
In recent years, reports on highly efficient UV LEDs and UV laser diodes have been published one after another. Considering the application field of UV semiconductor light-emitting devices, it is essential to achieve high output, i.e., high current density operation, and it is important to establish a fabrication process for vertical devices to realize this. A 1cm square wafer with deep-UV LEDs stacked on a sapphire substrate was successfully separated from the substrate to fabricate vertical LEDs. In this study, an Al0.68Ga0.32N underling layer was formed on an AlN template with periodic pillars, and a process that enables reproducible substrate detachment was successfully developed. The fabricated vertical LEDs successfully exhibit remarkable luminescence characteristics (peak wavelength: 298 nm) up to a current density of ~43 kA cm-2 at room temperature and pulse driving. Applications to high-power ultraviolet region LEDs and laser diodes are expected.
UV lasers have a wide range of applications in engineering, environment, medicine, biotechnology, and other fields. According to the “Report on Patent Application Technology Trend”, the market size is extremely large at approximately two billion US dollars a year. AlGaN is the most suitable material for the realization of UV Laser Diodes (LDs) because of its direct-transition band structure and high-performance UV LEDs. On the other hand, it has been considered extremely difficult to realize high-quality crystals that can achieve high optical gain with low carrier injection, and to simultaneously form the current injection and optical cavity required for laser oscillation. In this presentation, I would like to introduce our UV-B and UV-A LDs. These LDs have achieved breakthroughs in the above issues by realizing high quality AlGaN with lattice relaxation by 3D growth and by using polarized doping structures in the p-type cladding layer. I would like to explain its technical details and future prospects.
Ultraviolet (UV) semiconductor lasers are widely used in medical and industrial applications, and their commercialization is strongly desired. Recently, laser oscillation by current injection in the UV-C and UV-B regions has been reported . From now on, it is necessary to demonstrate CW operation, which is indispensable for practical applications. In order to realize this, it is important to understand the internal loss and optical gain of the current devices.
In this presentation, we report the details of our UV-B lasers. Specifically, we would like to discuss the results of the variable stripe length analysis of the internal loss of the obtained device and the performance of the UV-B lasers. The results show that the internal losses of the optimized UV-B laser are relatively low and good values are obtained. We also discuss the details of polarization doping, which is very effective in the realization of these UV lasers.
The UV semiconductor-based laser sources are important for a variety of fields, including medical, mechanical processing, chemical processing, biology, and photonics. However, the development of UV-B and UV-C laser diodes is strongly hampered because of the difficulties with current injection technology such as the realization of both a high hole concentration and low resistivity p-type AlGaN with a high AlN molar fraction. Because laser oscillation from AlGaN, with a high AlN molar fraction, can be obtained under optical pumping, UV lasers with controllable wavelengths should be realized if this problem can be solved.
One promising technique for avoiding these problems is the use of electron beam excitation. Till date, nitride semiconductor-based lasers have been designed to achieve population inversion of the carrier and to oscillate due to current injection. However, as previously discussed, it is difficult to achieve wavelengths in UV-B and UV-C using this method. The conductivity control of nitride semiconductors is unnecessary using electron beam excitation. Therefore, it would be possible to expand the wavelength region for the laser action of nitride semiconductor-based lasers from deep UV to infrared if a nitride semiconductor-based laser could be oscillated via electron beam excitation. In this study, nitride-based lasers excited by electron beam were investigated, and laser emission was observed for the first time from a GaInN/GaN and GaN/AlGaN-based MQWs excited by an electron beam.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.