Enhanced electro-optic performance of surface-treated nanowires: origin and mechanism of nanoscale current injection for reliable ultraviolet light-emitting diodes
Type
ArticleAuthors
Priante, Davide
Tangi, Malleswararao

Min, Jung-Wook
Alfaraj, Nasir

Liang, Jian Wei

Sun, Haiding
Alhashim, Hala H.
Li, Xiaohang

Albadri, Abdulrahman M.
Alyamani, Ahmed Y.
Ng, Tien Khee

Ooi, Boon S.

KAUST Department
Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE) DivisionElectrical Engineering Program
Photonics Laboratory
Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory
KAUST Grant Number
BAS/1/1614-01-01C/M-20000-12-001-77
BAS/1/1664-01-01
URF/1/3437-01-01
Date
2018-12-17Online Publication Date
2018-12-17Print Publication Date
2019-01-01Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/630376
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Self-assembled nanowires are posed to be viable alternatives to conventional planar structures, including the nitride epitaxy for optoelectronic, electronic and nano-energy applications. In many cases, current injection and extraction at the nanoscopic scale are essential for marked improvement at the macroscopic scale. In this investigation, we study the mechanism of nanoscale current injection and the origin of improvement of the flow of charged carriers at the group-III nitride semiconductor surface and metal-semiconductor interfaces. Conductive atomic force microscopy (c-AFM) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) enable a rapid analysis of the electrical and morphological properties of single and ensemble nanostructures. The surface potential and current injection of AlGaN nanowire-based LEDs are spatially mapped before and after surface treatment with KOH solution. Treated-nanowires showed an improved current spreading and increased current injection by nearly 10×, reduced sub-turn-on voltage (as low as 5 V), and smaller series resistance. The reduced contact potential confirms the lower semiconductor/metal barrier, thus enabling larger carriers flow, and correlates with the 15% increase in injection efficiency in macroscopic LEDs. The improvement leads to the normalization of nanoscale electrical conducting properties of UV AlGaN-based nanowire-LEDs and lays the foundation for the realization of practical nanowire-based device applications.Citation
Priante D, Tangi M, Min J-W, Alfaraj N, Liang JW, et al. (2018) Enhanced electro-optic performance of surface-treated nanowires: origin and mechanism of nanoscale current injection for reliable ultraviolet light-emitting diodes. Optical Materials Express 9: 203. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/ome.9.000203.Sponsors
King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) (KACST TIC R2-FP-008); King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) (BAS/1/1614-01-01, C/M-20000-12-001-77, BAS/1/1664-01-01, URF/1/3437-01-01) GCC Research Council Grant REP/1/3189-01-01; National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61774065).Publisher
The Optical SocietyJournal
Optical Materials ExpressAdditional Links
https://www.osapublishing.org/ome/abstract.cfm?uri=ome-9-1-203ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1364/ome.9.000203