SBIR Phase I: Microdisplays Based on III-Nitride Wide Band Gap Semiconductors

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目的目标是优化III-氮化物宽带隙半导体材料、层结构、微型显示器的器件设计，并开发用于可穿戴和平视显示器应用的III-氮化物全彩色微型显示器的概念。需要在单个半导体芯片上集成密集的微尺寸发光二极管(LED)阵列的半导体微显示器尚未开发出来。此外，传统的III-V或Si半导体无法实现全彩色显示器的颜色转换，这使得基于传统半导体的半导体微显示器无法实现。然而，由于III-氮化物的独特性质，III-氮化物微显示器可以提供优于基于液晶和有机LED显示器的性能，包括：自发光、高亮度/分辨率/对比度、高温/高功率操作、高抗震性、宽视场、全彩色光谱能力、长寿命、高速和低功耗。通过将它们插入到任何现有的视觉系统中，III-氮化物微型显示器将提供重量减轻、空间和电力节省，并允许从任何角度观看，而不会出现颜色偏移和对比度和分辨率下降。这里的研究建立在最近成功制造的III-氮化物微型蓝色LED阵列和微型显示器的基础上。微型显示器是分辨率如此之高的小型显示器，只有通过透镜或镜子才能实际观看或投影。微型显示器通常通过光学放大来放大用户观看的图像。当通过镜头观看时，高分辨率1英寸对角线微型显示器可以提供与观看21英寸对角线电视/计算机屏幕相当的图像。微显示器可用于各种设备，如头戴式显示器、摄像机、取景器等，并具有许多军事和商业应用。这里开发的微尺寸LED阵列不仅可用作可穿戴式和平视显示器，还可用作全彩色微型显示器、用于远程自由空间功能的发射器、短距离光通信、光学互连和用于疾病早期诊断的芯片规模生物医学传感器。III-氮化物蓝微尺寸LED阵列非常适合廉价的高分辨率和高速光纤链路。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project's goal is to optimize III-nitride wide bandgap semiconductor materials, layer structures, device design for micro-displays, and to develop concepts for III-nitride full color micro-displays for wearable and head-up display applications. Semiconductor micro-displays, which require the integration of a dense array of micro-size light emitting diodes (LEDs) on a single semiconductor chip, have yet to be developed. Also, color conversion for full color displays cannot be achieved in conventional III-V or Si semiconductors, which makes semiconductor micro-displays based on conventional semiconductors unviable.However, due to the unique properties of III-nitrides, III-nitride micro-displays can potentially provide performance superior to those based on liquid crystal and organic LED displays including: self-luminescent, high brightness/resolution/contrast, high temperature/high power operation, high shock resistance, wide field-of-view, full color spectrum capability, long life, high speed, and low power consumption. By inserting them into any existing visual system, III-nitride micro-displays would provide weight reduction, space and power saving and allow viewing from any angle without color shift and degradation in contrast and resolution. The research here is built on the recent successful fabrication of III-nitride micro-size blue LED arrays and micro-displays.Micro-displays are small displays that are of such high resolution that they are only practically viewed or projected with lenses or mirrors. Micro-displays are typically magnified by optics to enlarge the image viewed by the user. When viewed through a lens, a high-resolution 1-inch diagonal micro-display could provide images comparable to viewing a 21-inch diagonal TV/computer screen. Micro-displays can be used in a variety of devices such as head-wearing displays, camcorders, viewfinders, etc and have many military and commercial applications. Micro-size LED arrays developed here are not only useful as wearable and head-up displays, but also useful as full color mini-displays, emitters for remote free space functions, short distance optical communication, optical interconnects and chip-scale biomedical sensors for early diagnosis of disease. III-nitride blue micro-size LED arrays are very attractive for inexpensive high resolution and high-speed optical links.