InGaN/GaN p-i-n solar cells, each with an undoped In0.12Ga0.88N absorption layer, are grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. The effects of the thickness and dislocation density of the absorp- tion layer on the collection efficiency of InGaN-based solar cells are analyzed, and the experimental results demonstrate that the thickness of the InGaN layer and the dislocation density significantly affect the performance. An optimized InGaN- based solar cell with a peak external quantum efficiency of 57% at a wavelength of 371 nm is reported. The full width at half maximum of the rocking curve of the （0002） InGaN layer is 180 arcsec.
In situ optical reflectivity measurements are employed to monitor the GaN epilayer growth process above a lowtemperature GaN buffer layer on a c-plane sapphire substrate by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition. It is found that the lateral growth of the GaN islands and their coalescence are promoted in the initial growth stage if optimized nitridation time and temperature are selected when the substrate is pre-exposed to ammonia. As confirmed by atomic force microscopy observations, the quality of the CaN epilayers is closely dependent on the surface morphology of the nitridated buffer layer, especially grain size and nucleation density.
Effects of polarization and p-type GaN resistivity on the spectral response of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well （MQW） solar cells are investigated. It is found that due to the reduction of piezoelectric polarization and the enhancement of tunneling transport of photo-generated carriers in MQWs, the external quantum efficiency （EQE） of the solar cells increases in a low energy spectral range （λ 〉 370 nm） when the barrier thickness value decreases from 15 nm to 7.5 nm. But the EQE decreases abruptly when the barrier thickness value decreases down to 3.75 nm. The reasons for these experimental results are analyzed. We are aware that the reduction of depletion width in MQW region, caused by the high resistivity of the p-type GaN layer may be the main reason for the abnormally low EQE value at long wavelengths （λ 〉 370 nm）.
This paper reports that a long delay between the beginning of pumping current pulse and the onset of optical pulse is observed in InGaN laser diodes. The delay time decreases as the pumping current increases, and the speed of the delay time reduction becomes slower as the current amplitude increases further. Such delay phenomena are remarkably less serious in laser diodes grown on GaN substrate than those on sapphire. It attributes the delay to the traps which cause a large optical loss by saturable absorption and retard the laser action. The traps can be bleached by capturing injected carriers. The effect of GaAs laser irradiation on InGaN laser action demonstrates that the traps responsible for the delay are deep centres which can be filled by the photo-assisted processes.
Using the finite-element method, the thermal resistances of GaN laser diode devices in a TO 56 package for both epi-up configuration and epi-down configuration are calculated. The effects of various parameters on the thermal characteristics are analysed, and the thicknesses of the AlN submount for both epi-up configuration and epi-down configuration are optimized. The obtained result provides a reference for the parameter selection of the package materials.
The composition and stain distributions in the InGaN epitaxial films are jointly measured by employing various x-ray diffraction （XRD） techniques, including out-of-plane XRD at special planes, in-plane grazing incidence XRD, and reciprocal space mapping （RSM）. It is confirmed that the measurement of （204） reflection allows a rapid access to estimate the composition without considering the influence of biaxial strain. The two-dimensional RSM checks composition and degree of strain relaxation jointly, revealing an inhomogeneous strain distribution profile along the growth direction. As the film thickness increases from 100 nm to 450 nm, the strain status of InGaN films gradually transfers from almost fully strained to fully relaxed state and then more In atoms incorporate into the film, while the near-interface region of InGaN films remains pseudomorphic to GaN.
Two series of p-GaN films grown at different temperatures are obtained by metal organic chemical vapor deposition（MOCVD）. And the different variation behaviors of resistivity with growth condition for high- temperature（HT）-grown and low-temperature（LT）-grown p-GaN films are investigated. It is found that the resistivity of HT-grown p-GaN film is nearly unchanged when the NH_3 flow rate or reactor pressure increases. However, it decreases largely for LT-grown p-GaN film.These different variations may be attributed to the fact that carbon impurities are easy to incorporate into p-GaN film when the growth temperature is low. It results in a relatively high carbon concentration in LT-grown p-GaN film compared with HT-grown one. Therefore, carbon concentration is more sensitive to the growth condition in these samples, ultimately,leading to the different variation behaviors of resistivity for HT- and LT-grown ones.
