Pulsed-Mode Metalorganic Vapor-Phase Epitaxy of GaN on Graphene-Coated c-Sapphire for Freestanding GaN Thin Films.

We report the growth of high-quality GaN epitaxial thin films on graphene-coated c-sapphire substrates using pulsed-mode metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy, together with the fabrication of freestanding GaN films by simple mechanical exfoliation for transferable light-emitting diodes (LEDs). High-quality GaN films grown on the graphene-coated sapphire substrates were easily lifted off by using thermal release tape and transferred onto foreign substrates. Furthermore, we revealed that the pulsed operation of ammonia flow during GaN growth was a critical factor for the fabrication of high-quality freestanding GaN films. These films, exhibiting excellent single crystallinity, were utilized to fabricate transferable GaN LEDs by heteroepitaxially growing InxGa1-xN/GaN multiple quantum wells and a p-GaN layer on the GaN films, showing their potential application in advanced optoelectronic devices.

Single-crystalline GaN microdisk arrays grown on graphene for flexible micro-LED application.

We report the growth of single-crystalline GaN microdisk arrays on graphene and their application in flexible light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Graphene layers were directly grown onc-sapphire substrates using chemical vapor deposition and employed as substrates for GaN growth. Position-controlled GaN microdisks were laterally overgrown on the graphene layers with a micro-patterned SiO2mask using metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy. The as-grown GaN microdisks exhibited excellent single crystallinity with a uniform in-plane orientation. Furthermore, we fabricated flexible micro-LEDs by achieving heteroepitaxial growth ofn-GaN, InxGa1-xN/GaN multiple quantum wells, andp-GaN layers on graphene-coated sapphire substrates. The GaN micro-LED arrays were successfully transferred onto bendable substrates and displayed strong blue light emission under room illumination, demonstrating their potential for integration into flexible optoelectronic devices.

Exceptional Thermochemical Stability of Graphene on N-Polar GaN for Remote Epitaxy.

In this study, we investigate the thermochemical stability of graphene on the GaN substrate for metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)-based remote epitaxy. Despite excellent physical properties of GaN, making it a compelling choice for high-performance electronic and light-emitting device applications, the challenge of thermochemical decomposition of graphene on a GaN substrate at high temperatures has obstructed the achievement of remote homoepitaxy via MOCVD. Our research uncovers an unexpected stability of graphene on N-polar GaN, thereby enabling the MOCVD-based remote homoepitaxy of N-polar GaN. Our comparative analysis of N- and Ga-polar GaN substrates reveals markedly different outcomes: while a graphene/N-polar GaN substrate produces releasable microcrystals (µCs), a graphene/Ga-polar GaN substrate yields nonreleasable thin films. We attribute this discrepancy to the polarity-dependent thermochemical stability of graphene on the GaN substrate and its subsequent reaction with hydrogen. Evidence obtained from Raman spectroscopy, electron microscopic analyses, and overlayer delamination points to a pronounced thermochemical stability of graphene on N-polar GaN during MOCVD-based remote homoepitaxy. Molecular dynamics simulations, corroborated by experimental data, further substantiate that the thermochemical stability of graphene is reliant on the polarity of GaN, due to different reactions with hydrogen at high temperatures. Based on the N-polar remote homoepitaxy of µCs, the practical application of our findings was demonstrated in fabrication of flexible light-emitting diodes composed of p-n junction µCs with InGaN heterostructures.

Dimension- and position-controlled growth of GaN microstructure arrays on graphene films for flexible device applications.

This paper describes the fabrication process and characteristics of dimension- and position-controlled gallium nitride (GaN) microstructure arrays grown on graphene films and their quantum structures for use in flexible light-emitting device applications. The characteristics of dimension- and position-controlled growth, which is crucial to fabricate high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices, were investigated using scanning and transmission electron microscopes and power-dependent photoluminescence spectroscopy measurements. Among the GaN microstructures, GaN microrods exhibited excellent photoluminescence characteristics including room-temperature stimulated emission, which is especially useful for optoelectronic device applications. As one of the device applications of the position-controlled GaN microrod arrays, we fabricated light-emitting diodes (LEDs) by heteroepitaxially growing InxGa1-xN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) and a p-type GaN layer on the surfaces of GaN microrods and by depositing Ti/Au and Ni/Au metal layers to prepare n-type and p-type ohmic contacts, respectively. Furthermore, the GaN microrod LED arrays were transferred onto Cu foil by using the chemical lift-off method. Even after being transferred onto the flexible Cu foil substrate, the microrod LEDs exhibited strong emission of visible blue light. The proposed method to enable the dimension- and position-controlled growth of GaN microstructures on graphene films can likely be used to fabricate other high-quality flexible inorganic semiconductor devices such as micro-LED displays with an ultrahigh resolution.