The objective of this research is to conduct comprehensive studies on the issues and solutions to achieve high performance III-Nitride deep ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and lasers emitting in the 240-300 nm regime. The research will lead to electrically-injected deep UV emitters applicable for homeland security, water purification, environmental sensing, and biochemical agent detection. The program allows graduate and undergraduate students to be trained in multidisciplinary research, encompassing the physics of semiconductor optoelectronics materials and devices, material physics and epitaxy, semiconductor nanostructures, and device design and fabrications. The program will enable the training for two PhD students in III-Nitride technologies, which is critical for both deep UV emitters and solid state lighting applications.
The approach pursued in this program is to exploit a new method by introducing a nanoscale layer to achieve valence subband arrangement in the active regions, which will result in improved optical gain and spontaneous emission rate, as well as the ability to control the polarization of the emission in the mid and deep UV spectral regimes. The material development and epitaxy of novel AlGaN-based and AlInN-based quantum wells with large optical gain, specifically for achieving high performance deep UV LEDs and lasers, will be pursued. The implementation of these novel quantum wells in device structures will be pursued for achieving high-performance electrically-injected III-Nitride deep UV emitters.
