SBIR Phase I: Realization of Transparent Gallium Nitride Wafers by Ammonothermal Growth

SBIR 第一阶段：通过氨热生长实现透明氮化镓晶圆

• 批准号: 1142356
• 负责人: Tadao Hashimoto
• 金额: $ 14.95万
• 依托单位: SixPoint Materials, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-01-01 至 2012-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1142356&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Realization; Transparent; Gallium

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will address the coloration problem of gallium nitride (GaN) grown by the ammonothermal method. Despite its promise to reduce the cost of GaN wafers by 90%, the ammonothermal growth technique has a coloration problem which impedes the use of the resulting substrates for high-brightness light emitting diodes (HB-LEDs). The current major application of GaN wafers is for growing laser diodes (LDs), for which performance is not seriously affected by the coloration issue. However, optical loss in the substrate is a serious issue for HB-LEDs. This project aims to further develop the ammonothermal growth technology to realize low-cost, transparent GaN wafers usable for HB-LEDs. Removing oxygen, which is the primary impurity in ammonothermal bulk GaN, is one of the most challenging aspects of this effort because of the presence of oxygen-sensitive mineralizers. In the Phase I project, we will first conduct controlled sets of experiments to reveal the correlation between impurities and coloration. We will also develop an improved process to minimize the oxygen contamination. The goal of the Phase I project is to prove the feasibility of these new approaches in obtaining transparent GaN.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the realization of low-cost, transparent GaN wafers via ammonothermal growth, which will improve the performance and reduce the cost of HB-LEDs. The current high price of GaN wafers does not permit cost competitiveness of HB-LEDs with competing products. The high wafer cost is attributed to the current labor-intensive, low-yield production method of hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). Since the ammonothermal growth process is a scalable liquid-phase method, it is expected to reduce GaN wafer cost by 90%. The availability of low-cost, transparent GaN wafers will permit substrates grown via this method to address a market which is ten times the size of the current niche (~$1 billion in 2015). Currently, several domestic and international competitors are pursuing this goal; however, none has achieved colorless GaN wafers suitable for the HB-LED application. Our novel processes will directly address the oxidation problem of mineralizers which, we expect, will solve the coloration problem. This project will contribute to realization of low-cost HB-LEDs not only for energy-efficient solid-state lighting products, but also for automobile headlamps and display backlights.

这个小型企业创新研究阶段I项目将解决通过氨热方法生长的氮化甲壳（GAN）的色素问题。 尽管它有望将GAN晶片的成本降低90％，但氨气热生长技术仍存在着色问题，这阻碍了所得底物用于发射二极管（HB-LED）的高亮度光。 Gan Wafers目前的主要应用是在生长激光二极管（LDS）中，为此，性能不受着色问题的严重影响。 但是，底物的光损失是HB LED的严重问题。 该项目旨在进一步开发氨热增长技术，以实现可用于HB LED的低成本，透明的Gan晶体。 去除氧气，这是氨热散装gan中的主要杂质，是这种努力最具挑战性的方面之一，因为存在氧气敏感的矿化剂。 在第一阶段项目中，我们将首先进行受控的实验集，以揭示杂质与着色之间的相关性。 我们还将开发一个改进的过程，以最大程度地减少氧气污染。 I阶段项目的目的是证明这些新方法在获得透明的GAN方面的可行性。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是通过氨气热增长实现低成本，透明的Gan Wafers，这将改善性能并降低HB的成本。 当前的Gan晶片价格高昂不允许使用竞争产品的HB领导的成本竞争力。高晶片的成本归因于当前的劳动蒸气相位X. Hydide蒸气相（HVPE）的当前劳动密集型生产方法。 由于氨气热生长过程是一种可扩展的液相方法，因此预计将GAN晶片成本降低90％。 低成本，透明的Gan Wafers的可用性将允许通过这种方法生长的基材来解决当前利基市场规模的十倍（2015年约10亿美元）。 目前，一些国内和国际竞争对手正在追求这一目标。但是，没有人能够实现适合HB领导的应用的无色gan晶片。 我们的新过程将直接解决矿物质剂的氧化问题，我们期望这将解决着色问题。 该项目将有助于实现低成本的HB领导，不仅用于节能固态照明产品，而且还可以实现汽车前照灯和显示背光。