Slanted n-ZnO nanorod arrays/p-GaN light-emitting diodes with strong ultraviolet emissions

Abstract

Both of oblique angle deposition and conventional deposition techniques were used by a RF sputtering system to grow the slanted (beta = 32 degrees) and planar (beta = 0 degrees) n-ZnO films on p-GaN, respectively. These two kinds of n-ZnO/p-GaN heterojunctions were then fabricated the light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The electrical and optical properties of these two kinds of LEDs were investigated systematically. The results show that the slanted n-ZnO/p-GaN LEDs have a lower turn-on voltage and less leakage current than that of planar n-ZnO/p-GaN LEDs. Moreover, different from the planar n-ZnO/p-GaN LEDs which emitting colors changes with injection current, the slanted n-ZnO/p-GaN LEDs retains UV emissions (385-400 nm) under the entire range of injection currents we applied. The dominant UV luminescence of slanted n-ZnO/p-GaN LEDs is attributed to the ZnO near band edge transitions, indicating the high quality of slanted ZnO films and exhibiting the essential property dedicated to nano-sized heterojunctions. Hence, we have demonstrated that the slanted n-ZnO/p-GaN LEDs fabricated by oblique angle deposition have better performance than the planar n-ZnO/p-GaN LEDs fabricated by convention deposition means. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America