Epitaxial Growth of GaN Based LED Structures on Sacrificial Substrates

Investigating Organization
Georgia Tech Research Corporation

Principal Investigator(s)
Ian Ferguson

Subcontractor
None

unding Source
Building Technologies Program/NETL

Award
DOE Share: $741,216; Contractor Share: $276,565

Contract Period
10/01/06 - 12/31/09

The objective of this work is to develop high-efficiency LED devices that will lead to higher external quantum efficiency performance, better electrostatic discharge durability, simple low cost fabrication, high product yield with high brightness, and better heat management.  A sacrificial substrate will be used for device growth that can easily be removed using a wet chemical etchant leaving only the GaN epi-layer and possibly a very thin (~1mm) intermediate substrate. This will require development of growth techniques for substrates other than sapphire, such as Si or ZnO, already developed in this laboratory.  After substrate removal, the GaN LED chip can then be mounted in several different ways to a metal heatsink/reflector.  Then light extraction techniques can be applied to the chip such as surface roughening, wave-guiding, or others and compared for performance.

Content dated 2/08