InGaN/GaN Tunnel Junctions For Hole Injection in GaN Light Emitting Diodes

InGaN/GaN tunnel junction contacts were grown on top of an InGaN/GaN blue (450 nm) light emitting diode wafer using plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The tunnel junction contacts enable low spreading resistance n-GaN top contact layer thereby requiring less top metal contact coverage on the surface. A voltage drop of 5.3 V at 100 mA, forward resistance of 2 x 10-2 ohm cm2 and a higher light output power are measured in tunnel junction LED. A low resistance of 5 x 10-4 ohm cm2 was measured in a MBE grown tunnel junction on GaN PN junction device, indicating that the tunnel junction LED device resistance is limited by the regrowth interface and not by the intrinsic tunneling resistance.