Buried graphene electrodes on GaN-based ultra-violet light-emitting diodes

Byung Jae Kim, Chongmin Lee, Michael A. Mastro, Jennifer K. Hite, Charles R. Eddy, Fan Ren, Stephen J. Pearton, Jihyun Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report that the oxidation of graphene-based highly transparent conductive layers to AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN ultra-violet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) was suppressed by the use of SiN X passivation layers. Although graphene is considered to be an ideal candidate as the transparent conductive layer to UV-LEDs, oxidation of these layers at high operating temperatures has been an issue. The oxidation is initiated at the un-saturated carbon atoms at the edges of the graphene and reduces the UV light intensity and degrades the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. The oxidation also can occur at defects, including vacancies. However, GaN-based UV-LEDs deposited with SiN X by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition showed minimal degradation of light output intensity and I-V characteristics because the graphene-based UV transparent conductive layers were shielded from the oxygen molecules. This is a simple and effective approach for maintaining the advantages of graphene conducting layers as electrodes on UV-LEDs.

Original languageEnglish
Article number031108
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume101
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012 Jul 16

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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