ALLOS Semiconductors announced its collaboration with Prof. Ohkawa and his team at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for realizing high efficiency nitride-based red LEDs on large diameter silicon substrates.

The collaboration will focus on solving fundamental issues like the large lattice mismatch and the quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) which limit the adoption of red nitride-based LEDs for practical industry usage. In particular, for the emerging field of Micro LED displays there is a strong demand to enable red LEDs on large diameter wafers in addition to the established blue and green color LEDs in the nitride system in order to reduce manufacturing complexity and cost.

(ALLOS’ integration of different LED stacks combing KAUST's red Micro LED technology; image: ALLOS)

The KAUST team led by Ohkawa has achieved several breakthrough in InGaN-based red Micro LED with low forward voltage of less than 2.5 V and high efficiency by using local strain compensation and a modified MOCVD reactor design. The researchers have already grown red LEDs on sapphire- and Ga2O3-substrates. For potentially higher performance red LEDs by using strain-engineering on wafer-level – in particular for large wafer diameters – the team is now extending its work to silicon substrates together with ALLOS. The partnership would speed up mass production with the scalability of up to 300 mm and processability in silicon process lines. For Micro LED displays, especially for the monolithically integrated micro displays for AR application, this is another important enabler.

The two parties will leverage their expertise to handle strain and optimize crystal growth conditions for GaN-on-Si and red LEDs with the aim to grow red LED stack on top of GaN-on-Si-buffer layers.

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Dr. Nishikawa, co-founder and CTO of ALLOS, will share how the company's 200 and 300 mm LED epiwafer technology supports Micro LED mass prodcution at 2020 Micro LED Forum. Do not miss the chance to obtain the latest Micro LED technology progresses and market trends. Register now to secure the early bird discount.