Enhanced interband tunnel injection of holes into a PN junction is demonstrated using P-GaN/InGaN/N-GaN tunnel junctions with a specific resistivity of 1.2 X 10-4 {\Omega} cm2. The design methodology and low-temperature characteristic of these tunnel junctions is discussed, and insertion into a PN junction device is described. Applications of tunnel junctions in III-nitride optoelectronics devices are explained using energy band diagrams. The lower band gap and polarization fields reduce tunneling barrier, eliminating the need for ohmic contacts to p-type GaN. This demonstration of efficient tunnel injection of carriers in III-Nitrides can lead to a replacement of existing resistive p-type contact material in light emitters with tunneling contact layers, requiring very little metal footprint on the surface, resulting in enhanced light extraction from top emitting emitters.
@article{arxiv.1211.4905,
title = {Low Resistance GaN/InGaN/GaN Tunnel Junctions},
author = {Sriram Krishnamoorthy and Fatih Akyol and Pil Sung Park and Siddharth Rajan},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1211.4905},
year = {2013}
}