Improved external quantum efficiency of 293 nm AlGaN UVB LED grown on an AlN template

Smart, low cost and environmentally safe AlGaN-based UVB LEDs are promising in many real world applications including medical as well as agricultural sciences. The main purpose of this work is to develop a crystal growth technique for an n-AlGaN buffer layer (BL) including an n-AlGaN current spreading layer (CSL) for obtaining a high internal quantum efficiency (IQE) from UVB-emitting multi quantum wells (MQWs). By the reduction of the edge type threading dislocation densities in the n-AlGaN CSL, as well as the optimization of the quantum well (QW) thickness, the IQE of about 42% was improved for UVB MQWs, with an emission wavelength of 294 nm. Subsequently, the external quantum efficiency improved from 2.7% to 3.3% at 20 mA under the continuous wave (CW) operation and the maximum output power also improved from 10.8 mW to 12.5 mW at 126 mA, respectively. 293 nm UVB LED light sources are very useful for the application of vitamin D3 production in the human body.