Epitaxial Growth of Group III Nitrides on Silicon Substrates Via a Reflective Lattice-Matched Zirconium Diboride Buffer Layer

Solid state lighting, based on semiconductor light emitting diodes, typically begins with a silicon carbide or sapphire substrate to grow wide bandgap Nitride materials from the (In,Al,Ga) N family. While the nitride materials can be tailored to provide emission over the complete ultraviolet and visible spectrum, their growth requires expensive and complex processing. Furthermore, the starting substrates are expensive, the devices have low yields and the approach offers poor scalability. To overcome these problems, researchers at ASU have developed a low cost hybrid buffer solution based on Zirconium Diboride layers that can be deposited directly on cheap and widely available silicon substrates. The buffer allows growth of high quality Nitride materials, suitable for optoelectronic and electronic applications. Potential Applications UV-VIS LEDs for lighting and display applications UV-VIS lasers for data storage. High efficiency Nitride-based photovoltaics. High power diodes and transistors.Benefits and Advantages Growth on large area and low cost substrates such as Si. A simple and highly manufacturable technology. Key buffer properties well matched to those of III-N materials. III-N material quality at least comparable to that of more complex and more costly techniques. Substrate is compatible with existing device technologies.Download original PDF