A Ga-doped ZnO transparent conduct layer for GaN-based LEDs

An 8μm thick Ga-doped ZnO（GZO） film grown by metal-source vapor phase epitaxy was deposited on a GaN-based light-emitting diode（LED） to substitute for the conventional ITO as a transparent conduct layer（TCL）. Electroluminescence spectra exhibited that the intensity value of LED emission with a GZO TCL is markedly improved by 23.6%as compared to an LED with an ITO TCL at 20 mA.In addition,the forward voltage of the LED with a GZO TCL at 20 mA is higher than that of the conventional LED.To investigate the reason for the increase of the forward voltage,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was performed to analyze the interface properties of the GZO/p-GaN heterojunction.The large valence band offset（2.24±0.21 eV） resulting from the formation of Ga_2O_3 in the GZO/p-GaN interface was attributed to the increase of the forward voltage.