Milliwatt-power far-UVC AlGaN LEDs on sapphire substrates

Abstract

AlGaN LEDs emitting < 230 nm UV light were fabricated on sapphire substrates. We employed a quantum well (QW) with an extremely thin barrier to enhance the quantum confinement of holes, wherein the calculation showed that the topmost valence subband became [Formula: see text]-like and increased the transverse-electric polarized emission. Additionally, we modified the Al composition of the spacer layer situated between the QW and an electron-blocking layer, which significantly improved the current-injection efficiency. The combination and optimization of these structures produced an LED emission of 228-nm UV light with an output power of 1.4 mW at 150 mA.